Not Bound By Blood: Rewriting
by AliasWritings
Summary: 15 year old Charlie finds herself at the end of the world, amongst people she doesn't know. Struggling to find where she belongs amongst the group, Charlie distances herself from everyone, a certain redneck excluded. She doesn't know why, but she's more comfortable around him than the others. Charlie's never had a real family before, maybe this time will be different. Season 1.
1. Peace

**I'm rewriting this story, my grammer and writing in general has improved since I first wrote it. I'm chaning the POV as well. Not enough of the plot to make a big difference, hopefully just make the characters more like themselves.**

** Anyway, thanks for reading!**

**Sequel has been posted.**

**Word count: 4,007**

**(Rewritten) **

* * *

Peace. Such a small word that means so much. Something most people strive to find in their lives but only few succeed in. There are many different versions of peace. The quiet or loud noises. Isolation or being around others. It's a never-ending list, but an important one.

Small, simple things can bring peace. Certain smells, a favorite book, whatever it may be. Most people take these things for granted and it's not until they're gone that we realize how much we relied on them. How much we needed those small things in our lives.

So even on your busiest day, hardest days, it's important to find that small thing. Whatever it may be that brings you that small amount of peace. Life has a tendency to eat away at you, it takes and it takes away from us. So we have to take something back because if we don't there won't be anything left of us.

This is where a fifteen-year-old teenager finds herself. Sitting away from others on the forest floor, watching the leaves get carried by the breeze. It's a simple act, but one she enjoys.

She hadn't been there long when a not so distance blaring noise gains her attention. It's coming towards camp, she knows. So, jumping to her feet the girl jogs through the woods, reaching the clearing right as the noise gets cut off.

"Yeah, everybody is." She hears Glenn say to Shane when she gets close enough to hear their voices. "Well, Merle not so much." Those words cause the girl's eyes to snap away from the car and towards the man who'd spoken. What does that mean? Is Merle dead? Injured? She thinks of the man's brother. He won't be happy about this. It's probably a good thing he's not here at the moment.

"Are you crazy driving this wailing bastard up here?" Shane, asks Glenn, ignoring the words about Merle. "Are you trying to draw every walker for miles?"

"I think we're okay." Dale says from behind Shane and the teenager leans against the other side of the car, away from everyone.

"You call being stupid okay?"

"Well, that alarm was echoing all over these hills. Hard to pinpoint the source." Dale states calmly, defending himself when Shane shoots him a look. "I'm not arguing. I'm just saying. I wouldn't hurt you to think things through a little more carefully next time, would it?" He asks Glenn, giving the young man a pointed look.

"Sorry. Got a cool car." Glenn says, gesturing towards said car. Before anyone else could speak up, the sound of an approaching car reaches their ears and everyone turns to see a big white van. When it parks, the occupants rush to exit.

"Amy!"

"Andrea!" The two sisters call out, running to each other before throwing their arms around the other in a hug.

Jacqui walks up behind them while Morales runs to his wife and kids. T-dog behind them all. "How'd y'all get out of there anyway?" Shane asks.

"New guy, he got us out." Glenn answers. His words piqued the teen's curiosity. She's wary of new people. They were bad enough before the world went to shit.

"New guy?"

"Yeah, crazy vato, just got into town. Hey helicopter boy! Come say hello." Morales calls as the vans driver side door opens. "Guy's a cop, like you."

Everyone's watching as the man approaches. He's around Shane's age. Short brown hair and wearing a police uniform. No one knows what to think of the newcomer but Carl, a little boy standing next to his mother, calling out to the man wasn't one of them. "Dad! Dad!"

Head whipping to the side, the dark-haired teen watches Carl run towards the new guy, hugging him before they both fall to the ground. Well, that was not what she expected.

The young girl continues to watch as Lori joins the two, a small smile pulling at her lips. Family. There's nothing like it. Something you should never take for granted, your own blood. People you're connected too. It's hard to get and so easy to lose. Family should always be there for you, never abandon you. That's how it should be, but sadly it's not. Not always. Whatever family you have, you should hang on to them for as long as you can.

Because not everyone has a family.

Later that night everyone sits around a fire, listening to Rick talk about what happened to him. Well, almost everyone. A certain teenager takes to lying atop the RV, looking to the stars. She isn't a big people person. Never has been. It's easy to feel crowded and uncomfortable around people. Especially ones you don't know.

Surprise comes easily to the young girl when she opens her eyes to see the sun slowly rising over the trees. She must have fallen asleep, she reasons as she sits up. It isn't often she got a full nights sleep with no interruption. Stretching her sore muscles, the girl notices a blanket lying over her legs. Didn't have that last night, she thinks as someone speaks. "Morning, Charlie." Squinting her tired eyes, the girl looks over to see Dale sitting in his chair. "Sleep well?"

"Sorry." The teen mumbles, rubbing her blurry eyes. "Didn't mean to fall asleep."

"Nah, you're alright. I just didn't have the heart to wake you." Dale shrugs with a smile. He's a nice man, something she isn't exactly used to.

Neatly folding the blanket, the teenager stands and mumbles a quick "Thanks." To Dale before slipping off the back of the RV with a plan to put the blanket inside.

Being quiet as to not wake anyone sleeping, Charlie sets the blanket on the table before making a quick exit. It's still early, not many people are awake yet. The sun hasn't finished rising. It's already really hot out though. Grabbing her bag, the teenager makes her way down to a secluded area by the water. It isn't clear but it doesn't look bad. Not that it matters. Beggars can't be choosers and all that.

Letting down her long dark hair from its ponytail, the girl reaches into her bag for a small towel. Removing the button-up she has on, she leaves the tank top that's under it on. Grabbing the towel, Charlie walks down to the water to wash up. She doesn't take her time and finishes quickly but once drying, she takes a moment, letting her grey eyes scan the water. The quiet is nice but she fears it won't last long. Daryl will be back soon and he'll find out about Merle. It doesn't take a genius to know that's not going to go over very well.

Pulling her knees to her chest, arms on top of them, the black marks on the girl's inner forearm catch her attention. She runs her fingers over the tally marks, thinking about what they mean. Snorting at the memory of when she got them, the girl shakes her head and notices how high the suns gotten. Everyone will be up by now. She almost hesitates when slipping back on the long sleeve shirt. It is really hot out. But the tattoos aren't the only marks she wants to hide.

Trekking back up to the camp, damp hair falling over her shoulder, Charlie listens closer when voices reach her ears. "Look at 'em. Vultures." Glenn says. "Yeah, go on, strip it clean." He gestures to Jim who's taking apart the res car he drove into camp the day before.

"Generators need every drop of fuel they can get. Got no power without it. Sorry, Glenn." Dale says as he walks by with a red fuel can.

"Though I'd get to drive it at least a few more days." Glenn mumbles sadly.

"Maybe we'll get to steal another one someday." Risk says, patting Glenn on the back before walking away. Charlie's eyes zero in on the small action, brows furrowed. She's never understood comfort from contact.

Sighing, she spins around and makes her way to the RV's ladder before climbing it. She perches on the edge before pulling out her small sketch book and pencil. She finds an empty page and carefully brings the lead down onto the paper, drawing precise lines, sending the red car in front of her an occasional glance.

It isn't long that she sits there before loud, high pitched screams catch her attention. She'd recognized the screams of children anywhere. Without hesitating to drop her things, Charlie jumps off the RV, ignoring the pain that shoots though her ankles, and runs in the direction of the noise. She makes it to the edge of the camp before anyone else, jumping over the rope and tin cans just as the children come running forward, seemingly unharmed. She should've left it at that, she knows, but when the kids rush to their parents, Charlie creeps around the corner they came from.

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

Coming to a stop, the teenager observes the reanimated corpse munching on a, thankfully, dead deer. A dead deer with three arrows sticking out of it. Right as she steps forward to retrieve the familiar bolts, comfortable in the knowledge that the dead guy is to distracted to notice her, a hand lands on her shoulder. Quicker than a blink of an eye, the teen spins around and knocks the hand away, sending a glare up at Shane with a step away from him.

The group gathered doesn't pay her much mind after that, instead choosing to circle around the corpse as it feeds on the dead animal. Charlie squints her eyes. She understands this is a new type a threat to them, to the world, but it's a single one. Why not just kill it? It would be so simple to pull out her knife and sink it into its rotting skull.

Before she can think on it anymore, the others finally decide to take care of it. Not very efficiently she may add but she takes the distraction to pull the arrows from the deer and step back, examining them for cracks or breaks when a rustling noise gathers everyone's attention.

"Son of a bitch." Daryl says as he pushes past a few twigs, looking at the now useless dead deer lying on the ground. "That's my deer. Look at it, all gnawed on but this filthy, disease-bearing, motherless poxy bastard." Twirling one of the arrows between her fingers, Charlie raises a brow at the man's language, watching him kick the dead guy's body.

"Calm down son, that's not helping." Dale states in his normal calm Dale voice.

"What do you know about it, old man? Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to "on golden pond"?" Both eyebrows raised now, Charlie continues to silently observe the scene in front of her. "I've been tracking this deer for miles. Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?"

"I would not risk that." Shane shakes his head.

"That's a damn shame. I got us some squirrel, about a dozen or so. That'll have to do."

Deciding it's time to go - and maybe a little bored - Charlie pauses it her steps to leave when she remembers the items in her hand that are not her own. She holds the three arrows towards Daryl and taps his arm with them, gaining his attention. His head snaps to her but he relaxes when he sees what she's holding out to him and he takes them from her, allowing the teenager to make her way back to camp.

"Merle!" Daryl shouts from behind her, followed by many other footfalls. Shits about to hit the fan, the girl mentally sighs to herself as she once again climbs the RV. "Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! Got us some squirrel, let stew 'em up."

"Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you." It's Shane who speaks up first, placing a hand on his hip and clenching his jaw.

"About what?" Nothing you're going to like, Charlie thinks with pursed lips. She doesn't have much of an opinion on the older Dixon brother. He's an ass much like Daryl but he's an annoying ass where Daryl's behavior is oddly...refreshing? People try to hide what they really think for the sake of others but not him, he doesn't give a shit. She can appreciate that.

"About Merle. There was a- there was a problem in Atlanta."

Looking around, Daryl takes a moment before he responds. "He dead?"

"We're not sure."

"He either is or he ain't!" Daryl shouts a lot less calmly than before.

"No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it." Rick says, walking forward.

"Who are you?"

"Rick Grimes."

"Rick Grimes, you got something you want to tell me?"

"Your bother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal." Just rip the bandaid right off, usually works best. "He's still there."

"Hold on," Daryl says as he turns his back to Rick. "Let me process this. You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there!?"

"Yeah." Rick says, causing Daryl to throw the rope of squirrels at him right before Shane knocks him to the ground. Why is fighting everyone's go-to answer?

"Watch the knife!" T-Dog yells as Daryl stands, knife in hand, swinging it at Rick.

"The hell with all ya'll!" Daryl yells. "Just tell me where he is, so I can go get 'em."

"He'll show you." Lori says from the doorway of the Rv. "Isn't that right?" Wait, so she wants him to leave? Charlie furrows her brows.

"I'm going back." Rick states with a nod and Charlie's eye roll goes unoticed by all.

* * *

"Could you just tell me why? Why would you risk your life for a douch bag like Merle Dixon?" Shane questions Rick as they walk into the main area of camp.

"Hey, choose your words more carefully." Daryl says from his place a few feet away.

"No, I did. Douche bags what I meant." That was almost funny. "Merle Dixion. The guy wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst." Sure, if he didn't like you. Well, maybe.

"What he would or wouldn't do doesn't interest me. I can't let a man die of thirst-me. Thirst and exposure. We left him like an animal caught in a trap. That's no way for anything to die, let alone a human being." Rick argues back with his partner, mind made up.

"So you and Daryl, that's your big plan?" Lori asks, obviously not happy that her husband is leaving.

"I'll go." Charlie mumbles quietly to herself. She doesn't mean for anyone to hear her, she doesn't even know if she would follow through on her word. Would she go? No offense to Merle Dixon, but she's not fond of the idea of dying for the man.

"No." Daryl immediately shoots back without sparing her a glance. It takes Charlie a minute to even realize he'd been talking to her.

Turning her head, Charlie looks up at his tall frame towering over her much shorter one. He was either closer than she thought or had really good hearing. The teenager only shakes her head and turns her attention back to the others. She doesn't actually expect anyone to let her go. "Just saying." She whispers just as quietly as before. Maybe she could help, she's fast, can move around easy. Or maybe she'd just get in the way. Who knows, maybe she'd die.

"No." Daryl states again, more firmly, looking down at the girl with time. His expression is annoyed so Charlie just holds her hands up in surrender but doesn't move away.

"Oh, come on." Glenn says when Rick looks to him, knowing what he wants without having to hear him say it.

"You know the way. You've been there before, in and out, no problem. You said so yourself. It's not fair of me to ask, I know that, but I'd feel a lot better with you along. I know she would too." Rick finishes with a look at his wife.

"That's just great. Now you're going to risk three men, huh?" Shanes asks, obviously not agreeing with this plan.

"Four." T-Dog puts in, raising his hand slightly.

"My day just gets better and better, don't it." Daryl huffs from the seat he'd taken on an overturned log.

"You see anybody else here stepping up to save your brother's cracker ass?"

"Yes." Charlie mutters to herself again.

"No." Daryl shoots back more harshly than before, face still annoyed. He wasn't meant to hear that, oops. "Why you?" He asks T-Dog.

"You wouldn't understand. You don't speak my language."

"That's four." Dale states.

"It's not just four. You're putting every single one of us at risk. Just know that Rick. Come on, you saw that walker." Once again bored with the situation, Charlie blocks out everything else until a small voice speaks up, cutting through the others.

"Dad, I don't want you to go." Carl says, earning the Charlie's attention. She feels bad for him, he just got his father back and now he's leaving with the chance of never coming back. No kid should have to be without their parents.

Shuffling on her feet, Charlie hesitates a moment before walking over to sit a few feet from Carl. She does better with kids than adults anyway.

"Okay?" Rick asks Carl as he crouches in front of him, gaining a nod from the little boy in return. "All right." He says before putting his hand on Carls' head. Charlie's face's twitches as a tingle spills down her spine.

Sometime later, after everyone had moved around, Charlie finds herself next to Daryl again. She honestly doesn't even know how that happened. At first, she thought he didn't notice her but when he speaks again, she realizes she's wrong. "No." Furrowing her brows, the teen looks around before her eyes land on him. "You ain't goin'."

"I didn't even say anything." She quietly states, brows still furrowed.

"Ya didn' have to. You ain't goin'."

Charlie doesn't know why she wants to go. Well, she doesn't really, just needs something to do. There are too many people around and she can't stay out in the woods forever. It feels selfish, she doesn't have the biggest desire to help Merle and she'd be the first to admit the guy is a grade-A asshole. But she agrees with Rick to some degree, no one deserves to die the way Merle will. The 'to some degree' would be some of the people she's met and wouldn't lose any sleep over.

Charlie doesn't know either of the Dixons well, but for some reason, she finds herself around them more than the others, Daryl mostly. She doesn't hang around much, usually on her own or with the kids.

She hadn't noticed she was doing it at first, sticking close to them, until Merle made a comment about it. The teen only rolled her eyes at whatever it was he'd said before going back to ignoring him. She didn't catch Daryl's reaction because she'd had her head buried in her book, sketching a bird she'd seen earlier the same morning.

Maybe it's that he's quiet, he's not much of a people person. Maybe they relate in some ways. Who knows, Charlie thought to herself, maybe he's annoyed by her presence but doesn't say anything. She figured that was likely. Although he seems like the kind of person to tell someone to go away if he doesn't want them around. He hasn't done that, though. Not yet, at least. Charlie usually finds herself around him when he's doing something like skinning whatever creature he's killed that day or messing around with his crossbow and bolts. They'll just sit there, doing whatever, never uttering a word.

"Don't need no kid to look after, got enough problems as it is." Daryl says, pulling Charlie from her thoughts.

"At the risk of sounding childish, I can take care of myself." The teenager says and looks over at him. She can take care of myself, been doing it most of her life. Always had to, she found out at a young age because no one else would.

"How old are ya anyways, twelve?"

Scoffing, Charlie looks over at him again. People had mentioned before that she looks younger than she was, due to her short, skinny frame. One time a lady thought she was sick because of it, her naturally pale complexion definitely doesn't help. It's just how she grew up, food wasn't always around, meals were normal to miss. Although no one around camp pays much mind to the girl, she figures they were worried about their own families, not some random teenager.

"Sophia's twelve," She deadpans. "I'm not twelve. Do I really look like I'm twelve?" She asks him, finally letting some emotion into her voice.

Daryl lets out a scoff of his own while he collects all his arrows, walking past Charlie, towards the van. "You didn't answer the question." She whisper-shouts to his back as he walks away. "I'm not twelve." The teen mumbles to herself before standing and following after him.

Moments later as Rick and T-Dog talk to Dale and Jim about using his bolt cutter, Charlie finds herself leaning against the van as Daryl paces inside it. He'd going to wear a hole into it if he does that for much longer.

Jumping at a sudden loud noise, Charlie spins around to see Daryl hitting the horn with his foot. "Come on, let's go!" Looking down, the hunter catches the teenager's annoyed look but only rolls his eyes before he resumes pacing.

When the others approach the van, Charlie backs away. T-Dog climbs in and Rick stops to talk to Shane. They say a few things, Shane gives Rick some bullets and walks off, leaving Rick to walk around and climb into the driver side of the van.

Daryl finally stops his pacing then and makes his way to the back of the vehicle. He reaches up to close the door but before he does, his eyes catch Charlie's grey ones. The teenager feels her arm lifting up to give a small wave and to her surprise, Daryl nods in return.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! Though this story is complete, reviews are always welcomed. **

**There is also a sequel if you missed that in the notes above ^**

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'-'


	2. Beauty After Disaster

**Thanks for reading! **

**Words: 5,502**

**(Rewritten)**

* * *

"Hey, little man, where you off to?" Charlie asks Carl when she sees the boy walking up from the water.

"My mom said I had to stay where Dale could see me." He tells her, sounding disappointed. Charlie thinks he was catching frogs with Shane or something like that, he's probably upset she made him come back up here.

"Okay, you busy at the moment?" The teenager asks with a small smile.

"Huh?" Carl asks the older girl, looking up to her with squinted eyes.

"Well, I just so happen to have a deck of cards that haven't seen a good old game of go fish in a very long time. And I need a partner to play with, you up for it?" Watching a big grin grow on Carl's face, Charlie lets her own lips turn up more when he nods with enthusiasm. "What do you say we go find the others?"

"Yeah!" Carl rushes passed, causing Charlie to pull her arms to her chest when he almost touches her.

Whistling, Charlie catches Carl and Sophia's attention and points to a small, nearby table. Carl smiles and gives her a thumbs-up as he and Sophia rush off to ask the other children if they want to play, allowing Charlie to gather the cards and walk to the table.

"Go fish." Charlie tells Carl for the umpteenth time, causing him to groan in annoyance. "Give me your sevens." She smiles in victory when Carl reluctantly hands over his seven of hearts.

"How are you so good at this?" He asks while trying to hold all his cards in one hand.

"I will have you know, I am the Go Fish master." She informs him with a wink, smiling when all the children giggle. "Who knows, maybe one day I'll tell you my key secret on how I do it."

"Really?" He asks, his frown replaced by an excited smile.

"Maybe." Charlie replies with a smirk, straightening her cards.

"Hey, check it out." Morales says, making everyone turn their heads to see Andrea and Amy walking into camp with fish. A lot of fish.

"Can I go see the fish?" Carl asks Charlie.

"Um, yeah, yeah. Go." Waving her hand, the teen watches as all the children jump up from the table to go look at a bunch of dead fish, thankfully leaving all the cards behind.

Gathering the thin items, Charlie listens to Dale walk up, say we have a big problem before he leads everyone up a hill where Jim was. He'd been digging holes for a while and won't stop. Charlie doesn't bother to follow, though. What could she do, anyway?

With most people gone, following Dale up the hill, Charlie makes her way over to the RV and climbs atop it once again and pulls her sketch book form her bag and continues the sketch she started that morning.

* * *

Charlie doesn't move from the RV until Carl and Sophia find her, giving her their best puppy dog eyes when they asked her to come clean fish. It takes them a little while because they don't know how and their smalls hands are clumsy. Morales had built a fire pit with rocks, letting the group have a bigger fire without having to worry about it being seen. Everyone is having a good time, passing around the fish, laughing, talking about whatever.

The dark-haired teenager decided to stay down from the RV but kept her distance. She'd finished her fish already but the others are still working on their own as they talk and laugh. Dale had been talking for a bit then everyone laughed harder before Amy disappeared into the RV.

The night was almost peaceful. The stars are out, shining bright in the sky, everyone gathered around the fire, the silence filled with easy chatter. If only it wasn't for the odd feeling Charlie's had in the bottom of her gut all day.

"We're out of toilet paper?" Amy yells from the RV, halting everyone's words and they all turned to her. Charlie only spares the girl a glance before she looks down at her nails. The night had almost been peaceful.

When an ear-splitting scream sounds throughout the night, all eyes snap back to Amy to see a walker biting into the poor girl's arm. Everyone jumps up, some letting out their own screams or cries of distress. Charlie gets up as well, pulling her knife from its sheath. The dead pour in from every direction, the teenager wonders how they hadn't noticed sooner when a short, female walker stumbles towards her.

Lucky, Charlie would say she gets when she's able to spin around the back of the monster and kick it to the ground. After that, it's easy to sink her blade into the back of its head. Pulling her knife from its skull, Charlie stands a moment to slowly to stop another walker from falling onto her. Once again it's small. It's still heavy though, Charlie thinks through her panic, holding the reanimated corpse's rotting teeth away from her face by its shoulders.

Struggling, the teenager bends her knees and brings her legs between them for leverage. Grunting, Charlie shifts the walker's weight off her arms and onto her legs, allowing her to bring her knife up and into the walker's eye. Blood poured from the wound and onto Charlie but the teenager barely notices as she pushes the dead body off her with another grunt.

Climbing onto shaky legs, Charlie blinks when her vision blurs. When it doesn't help, the girl closes her eyes and digs the heels of her hands into her eyes. Probably wasn't the best idea with walkers roaming around, but she can hardly see.

When a muffled voice reaches her ears, Charlie pulls her hands away from her face with a jerk, stepping back when she meets a pair of squinted, blue eyes. "Kid, ya good?" Daryl, the girl realizes. He's a few feet in front of her, his sweaty brows furrowed when she takes longer than she should to respond. He's keeping space between them, Charlie notices before his question. She isn't sure if it was just him or because of that time she'd kicked a dude between his legs when he'd touched her shoulder. She hadn't meant to, it was an involuntary reaction.

Giving a shaky nod, Charlie lets her gaze move around the camp. Dead bodies litter the ground, some walkers, some people from the group. When her heart rate pics up, Charlie looked over to the Rv and see all the children with their parents, seemingly safe.

The rest of the night goes by in a blur, people crying over the ones they lost, hugging the ones that they didn't. After Daryl found Charlie and the teenager knew the kids were safe, the girl found a secluded area of the camp and fell to the ground. Her breaths turned into pants until she could hardly pull any air into her lungs. Blood rushed to her ears and nausea swept through her body. Gasping, Charlie clenched her jaw tightly and squeezed her fist do hard her nails bit into her skin, drawing blood.

As the sharp pain pulsed through her hands, air became easier to pull in and Charlie found herself panting once more until she could breathe normally. It took a while before she was able to stand and when she did, she made her way to the red car in a daze and sat down on the hood, pulling her knees to her chest. She wrapped her arms around them and sat there for the rest of the night.

Stuff goes on around her, people moving, crying, at one point yelling. People yelling about Jim being bitten. Charlie spares them a glance but she just buries her head in her knees before she could see much.

An unknown amount of time later, a tapping noise got the teen's attention and she lifts her head. "Ya alright, kid?" Daryl asks, an odd look on his face. Nodding, Charlie looks around, making no effort to move her head much. The bodies had been gathered into two piles, a few lingering behind in some places. "Hey," Bringing her gaze back to Daryl, Charlie looks down at the small rag he was holding out. The girl furrows her brows at him and when he notices her confusion, he motions with his free hand to his face then to her own.

Understanding, Charlie slowly reaches forward and takes the rag from him. She wants to say thank you, she really does, but is unable get the words out of her mouth. But Daryl doesn't seem to mind when he walks away, leaving the teenager to wipe at the dried blood on her face.

When Charlie fully snaps out of her daze, she pulls herself off the heated car hood in time to follow the others up the same hill Jim was on the day before to bury the dead. She stays back, away from everyone. She doesn't feel right being there, she didn't know these people very well. They weren't her friends, they weren't her family, it just didn't feel right.

Sneaking away, Charlie makes her way down to camp as everyone stays to finish. No one seemed to want to stay any longer than they had too. So as everyone goes about doing whatever, Charlie walks down to the water with the idea of getting cleaned up a bit more. She got most of the blood off her face, but she still feels sticky and dirty.

Splashing water in her face, Charlie sits back and looks across the water. The peaceful water. It doesn't seem right, for something to be so calm and beautiful after something so awful and ugly just happened. But that's just how it is sometimes.

Rubbing a hand down her face, Charlie wonders why she was this affected by what happened. She didn't even know these people for very long and getting shit thrown her way in the blink of an eye isn't new for her.

"Hey." Looking over her shoulder at the rough voice pulling her from her thoughts, Charlie sees Daryl approaching, crossbow in hand. "What are ya doin' down here?"

Taking a deep breathe, Charlie moves her gaze from him and back onto the water. "Just...I don't know."

"Shouldn' wander off." He says as he crouches down a few feet beside her. He always keeps a distance between then, something Charlie is thankful for. She wonders if it was just him or he's one of the many to witness the time she'd grabbed that guy's wrist and spun around to kick him when he'd touched her shoulder. She'd immediately shrank back and apologized before running into the forest.

"I know." Charlie mumbles after a moment.

"Best get back, gonna be headin' out in the mornin'." Nodding, Charlie climbs to her feet and Daryl does the same, walking back to the camp alongside him. The teenager distantly notes that he had to be purposely slowing his pace to stay next to her. His legs are much longer than hers.

* * *

Charlie sleeps on top of the RV again that night. Well, she tries to sleep. She just looks up at the stars, dozing off a few times before waking with a start, no memory of what woke her in the first place. So it's safe to say, she doesn't get much sleep. But it's fine, she thinks, not the first time and it won't be the last.

Now early morning, the teenager finds herself leaning against a far off vehicle, halfway listening to Shane talk about what station the CB's are on or something like that. She's mostly looking around, taking in the camp one last time before leaving. She isn't being sentimental, this is far from the first time she's had to leave a 'home.

"We're uh, we're not going." At hearing these words, Charlie whips her head around to look at the Morales family. They're not going? Why not?

"We have family in Birmingham," Miranda tells the group. "We want to be with our people." Okay, that's understandable. Charlie will miss the kids though, but it's best for them to be with their family.

"You go on your own, you won't have anyone to watch your back." Shane tells them but Charlie tunes him out again, pushing off the vehicle and walking a little closer to everyone. Watching Morales talk to Shane and Rick, the teenager leans forward to tap Louis and Eliza on their shoulders, making them turn around to face her.

The girl gives them both a smile and waves as they do the same. She's sure this is where people would shake hands or hug or something, but a wave will have to be enough for now. She wonders if she'll ever see them again. Probably not, not in a world like this one, where no one knows if they'll even see the next day or not. It may be sad, but it's reality these days.

As everyone else says their goodbyes, Charlie makes her way over to Daryl. She really doesn't want to ask but when weighing her options, this is the best one. Suffer for a moment to prevent a longer time of suffering. Charlie never claimed to be a poet.

"Daryl?" She says after clearing her throat, rolling her eyes at herself when her voice still came out softer than she meant for it. Charlie wonders if he even heard her for a second but when he turns to her, she knows he had. Okay, just a question, Charlie, she tells herself, he won't shop your head off for asking. Well, probably not. "Ca-can I uh, can I ride with you?"

"Why?" He asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Um, it's just, the other cars and stuff, well, they're a bit crowded." She tells him, looking off at the other vehicles as an excuse to avoid eye contact. "And I'm not a very big people person."

"Whatever." He says with a shrug. Charlie lets out a big sigh of relief. She hadn't meant to do it, especially that loud. As Daryl turns his back to her, Charlie quickly follows after him, not wanting to get left behind. They ride in silence, the windows rolled down. Charlie leans against the passenger door, her arm out the window, letting the wind run through her fingers.

Daryl rests with one hand on the steering wheel, the other resting against the door. He keeps his eyes on the road but finds his gaze shift to the teenager across from him once. Daryl doesn't know why he lets her hang around him as much as she seems to. There's no one else watching out for her, she's just a kid, hardly looks like she can lift ten pounds. He isn't worried, okay, he's not. Doesn't mean he wants the death of some kid on his conscience. So he looks in on her a few times, makes sure she's still there. That's all.

Charlie is pulled from her trance-like state when the truck comes to a stop. The vehicles in front have stopped as well and she can see smoke coming from the RV. Opening her door, the teenager jumps out of the truck and walks alongside the other cars to the front. Rick and Dale are talking about fixing the RV but she doesn't bother listening, looking for the children instead.

Turning away from the others, Charlie starts walking away when she hears someone say. "Hey," Looking over her shoulder, she meets Daryl's eyes. "Don't wander far." Nodding, Charlie continues her walk to where she thought she hears small voices.

"Charlie," Carl greets with a smile, standing from his seat on the ground to walk over to the girl. "Do you still have your cards?"

"I do, but, I think it's time we swap it up a bit, play something else." Charlie tells him with a small smile. "Alright, I'll go first. Eye spy with my little eye, something green." Watching Carl and Sofia laugh, Charlie lets her small smile grow. It's good they can laugh so easily, she hopes they never lose that.

They stay there for a while, playing random little games, until the children's parents come and get them, keeping them close as Shane and Rick carried a very sick Jim up the hill, leaning him against a tree.

Charlie stands back, watching as everyone says their goodbyes. They're leaving Jim, the teenager figures she understands. It's what he wants, he knows he's not going to make it and just wants to be with his family. And he should get to make that choice.

"C'mon." Daryl says to Charlie after everyone's loading back into the vehicles. Turning away from Jim, she follows behind him back to the truck and climbs inside. She leans against the door again but hugs her knees to her chest, watching the trees blur into a mix of greens and browns as they fly by.

It's sad about Jim, she's knows, but that's the way it is. And now he gets to be with his family.

* * *

"Stick close." Daryl tells Charlie when they exit the truck and join the others as they step out of their own vehicles. Doing as he said, the girl stays close as everyone slowly makes their way up to the CDC doors. It's getting dark, Charlie hates being out there like that, in the open, with only a knife. She isn't even good with it.

Coughing at the overwhelming smell of dead, Charlie hides her nose in the crook of her elbow while stepping over the bodies that litter the ground. They're everywhere, there's got to be at least a hundred of them.

"There's nobody hear." T-Dog says when the group finally reaches the door while Shane pounds on it with his fist.

"Then why are these shutters down?" Risk asks.

"Walkers!" Daryl shouts, catching everyone's attention to the approaching threat. "You led us into a graveyard!" Eyes scanning her surroundings, Charlie shifts to stand in front of Carl and Sophia unconsciously. She knows she wouldn't be able to do much if the walkers reach them, but there aren't any other options here.

Gaze locked forward, Charlie resists the urge to spin around and yell at everyone to shut up when they start shouting. Like, really? These things are attracted by noise, maybe try being the least bit quiet.

"You're killing us!" Rick shouts over and over again, holding his place, but everyone else starts inching back towards the vehicles when a loud noise sounds behind the, followed by a bright light.

"Daryl, you cover the back." Shane says as everyone moves into the building.

"Anyone infected?" A new voice calls back.

"One in our group was, he didn't make it." Rick answers.

"Why are you here? What do you want?" The new voice speaks up again.

"A chance."

"That's asking an awful lot these days." It was asking a lot before the world went to shit too, just not many people realized that.

"I know." Rick answers before they're plunged into silence for a few moments, the new guy's eyes scanning each of them.

"You all submit to a blood test, that's the price of admission."

"We can do that." Speak for yourself, dude, Charlie thinks to herself but doesn't voice her objection.

"You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed." Some of the others rush out before soon returning with their items, the doors closing behind them.

Following at the back of the group, Charlie watches as they all step into an elevator. The teenager hesitates at the entrance with a clenched jaw. She isn't claustrophobic, but with everyone crammed into the small space, it's impossible not to brush up against each other. Wrapping her arms around herself, Charlie stands just outside the door as everyone finds a place to stand in the tiny box. "Something wrong?" The doctor guy asks.

"Nothin' that concerns you." A voice from beside Charlie says, making the girl jump. She hadn't realized Daryl was standing there, she'd been too focussed on the people in front of her. "C'mon." He mumbled to her, pushing into the closest corner, making a few people shift while leaving a small space behind him.

Squeezing in, Charlie stands in the corner as the doors close. She isn't touching anyone, she's happy about that, but she's still very close to the others. Clenching her fists, Charlie closes her eyes and tries to breathe in deep but it feels like everyone in this box is sitting on her chest, preventing any air from entering her lungs.

Some people are talking, she's aware of this, their muffled voices reach her ears but she's too focused on breathing correctly to understand them.

A high pitched ding makes Charlie's eye snap open and the teen bolts out through the open doors and to the side of a spacious hallway, allowing everyone else to pass before she takes her place behind them all.

"Are we underground?" Carols asks as everyone follows the doctor down the hallway.

"Are you claustrophobic?" He questions with a quick glance over to her.

"A little."

"Try not to think about it." I don't think it's that simple, Charlie thinks to herself. "VI, bring up the lights in the big room." The doctor shouts as they all gather in the entrance of a very large room.

"Where is everyone? The other doctors, the staff?" Rick asks, continuing to walk further into the room.

"I'm it, it's just me here." Charlie can't bring herself to be surprised. Everyone probably went to be with their family. They didn't think it was worth staying.

"What about the person you were talking to. VI?" Lori asks.

"VI, say hello to our guest. Tell them, welcome." The doctor calls out into the big room moments before a robotic voice calls back.

"Hello guests, welcome." Not creepy at all, Charlie thinks sarcastically.

"I'm all that's left. I'm sorry." Everyone lets their disappointment show on their faces but the doctor didn't comment, only leads everyone from the big room into a much smaller one where he started taking blood samples.

Sooner than she would've liked, it was Charlie's turn. Now, the teenager doesn't have a problem with needles, not at all. What she does have a problem with is someone touching her. Something that happens when you get your blood drawn. Noticing the girl's hesitation, the doctor looks up from his seat to ask. "Something wrong?" Well, that's the second time you've asked that in the very short amount of time that I've known you, so most likely, yes, Charlie thinks but doesn't say any of it, only shakes her head before taking a seat.

As much as she hates this, Charlie doesn't want to make a big show of it. She could suck it up for a few moments. "It's perfectly normal to be afraid of needles." The doctor tells her as he collects a new set of gear.

"It's not the needle I'm afraid of." Charlie mumbles, mostly to herself and if the doctor hears her, he doesn't comment. When he motioned to her left arm, Charlie lifts it onto the table and rolls up her sleeve just past her elbow. She doesn't mind people seeing her scars, she just preferred that they don't. Luckily her back is to the group so even if they do look over, they won't see and possibly make a big deal. Give her odd looks, try to talk to her or some shit, that's the last thing she wants.

Keeping her grey eyes trained on the doctor's hands, Charlie sees him clearly hesitate before tying a blue, rubber band around her arm, ignore it when she tenses.

With clenched teeth, Charlie closes her eyes but keeps her head still. Her arm flinches back when she feels his skin touch hers but the teen clears her throat and holds her arm still when he does it again. His touches are feather-light but to the girl's brain warps them into feeling like he'd taken a vice grip on her arm.

"All done." Charlie isn't sure if she's ever been happier to hear two simple words in her life. She would've stood faster but she felt dizzy and took her time in doing so, rolling down her sleeve before turning back to the others.

It doesn't take much longer, most people having already gone, before the group was led from the room and into another one. The kitchen, so it would seem. Most everyone gathers around the big table with plates of food, the adults even drinking wine. Glenn is sitting on the counter, a wine bottle in his hands. Daryl walks around, also drinking. Everyone seems to be having a good time, except the doctor, he doesn't look too cheery.

Charlie sits atop a small table just behind the others, a now empty plate sitting beside her. She feels herself smiling as Rick and Lori argued over letting Carl try a sip of wine. The boy is excited about it, looking to his mother with puppy dog eyes and Charlie leaned in towards him so he could hear when she speaks.

"Don't do it, little man, you won't like it." She chuckles with raised brows when he looks back at her. Carl thinks about it but chose to ignore her warning and takes a small sip of the dark crimson liquid, screwing his face up in disgust as it hit his tongue.

"It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly," Rick says as he stands from his seat, tapping his knife on the side of his cup.

"He is more than just our host." T-Dog says while lifting his glass, soon followed by the others. The moment is short-lived, the smiles on everyone's faces and the laughs on their tongues dying when Shane decides it's his moment to speak.

"So when are you going to tell us what happened here, doc?" The mood in the room instantly drops. "All the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?"

"We're celebrating, Shane." Rick says to his partner, "No need to do this now."

"Woah, wait a second, this is why we're here right?" Sighing, Charlie rolls her eyes at the drunk man. "This was your move, supposed to find all the answers. Instead we, we found him. One man, why?"

"Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left. Went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted." The doctor calmly explains.

"Every last one?" Shane continues to push.

"No, many couldn't face walking out the door. They...opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time." Pinching the bridge of her nose, Charlie takes a sip of her water as the doctor continues to speak. This couldn't have waited until morning? Until the children weren't in the room?

"But you didn't leave, why?" This question comes from Andrea, the woman speaking up for the first time.

"I just kept working, hoping, to do some good."

"Dude," Glenn mumbles, moving from the counter to an actual chair. "You are such a buzz kill."

* * *

After the cheery turned dreary - no rhyme intended - dinner, the doctor shows everyone where they can stay. Explains what they can do, what they can't. Everyone is most excited about the showers. Charlie doesn't mind not being clean, as a kid, she'd always loved to play in the rain and mud but it was nice to shower every once and a while. Having dirt and blood caked onto your skin for days on end, it gets itchy.

The teenager isn't sure what to do after her shower, she still has her bag, her belongings shoved inside it. She figures she should find a place for the night. Jenner, the doctor, had said there were couches in the rooms and cots in storage. She'll figure it out later.

Everyone else wanders around, finding their own places to claim. Looking at whatever there is to look at. Charlie takes to walking the halls, letting her hand glide along the sleek surfaces. When she comes to a dip in one, she lets her hand fall to her side and looks up at the large metal door. It has a long window above the handle and a sign that reads 'stairs' hanging beside it. Shrugging, the teen takes off her bag and slides down the door until she hits the ground, legs slightly bent in front of her. The faint buzz of electricity is all she can hear. It bothers her.

Turning to her bag, Charlie unzips it and digs around for her sketchbook. She pulls it from under a shirt and rests it on her knees before opening it. The books fairly new, she's only filled a couple of pages. She'd finished drawing the car, now just to figure out how to give it to Glenn.

Charlie thinks it's funny, how many books she's drawn in but she's never been able to fill one completely. Something always happens before she can. It would be nice to look back on them, see how she's advanced in this talent she has.

"Hey," Nearly jumping out of her skin, Charlie places a hand over her racing heart and looks up at Daryl. Damn, he's quiet. "Sorry." He says, his voice quiet yet still rough.

"S'fine." Charlie whispers, looking back down at her book. "Wanna sit?" She questions weakly after a moment, sensing he was about to walk away. Company isn't something she normally seeks, but the silence is taking over her mind and she doesn't want to be alone with her thoughts.

Letting out something that resembled a grunt, Daryl does as Charlie had before and slides down the wall, keeping a good few feet between them. "What's that?" He asks, gesturing to her sketchbook, not because he cares, because he doesn't, but because he was bored.

"Nothing." Turning to an empty page, Charlie starts sketching the first thing that comes to mind. That just so happens to be a dragon but right now it just looks like a bunch of shapes. The silence hasn't changed, but it's more bearable now.

The two sit there for a while, Charlie sketching, Daryl chewing his nails. At one point Charlie feels as if he wants about to say something but he doesn't. She figures she's just tired.

"It's late." He says an unknown amount of time later. "Should turn in."

"Yeah." Charlie sighs, closing her book. Everyone is probably settling down for the night as well, they should too, she imagines. Pulling her beg to herself, Charlie returns the book to its place before standing, using the wall for support. "Goodnight." She mumbles before starting to walk away.

"Hey," Stopping in her steps, Charlie turns back to Daryl, looking down at him as he sits on the floor. "You good?" Giving him an odd look, Charlie thinks over his question before giving a small nod and walking away.

Is she, though? She doesn't know. But Charlie isn't the only one stuck in shit right now, it would be selfish to think she is. Everyone here is going through something, so why bother them with her stuff?

She's never needed anyone before, why start now?

* * *

**Sorry for any and all mistakes. Thanks for reading!**

* * *

'-'


	3. Dark Sky

**Short chapter compared to the other ones, but this is the end of season 1.**

**Thank you so much to those who have favorited and followed this story already, I hope you guys continue reading and enjoy this story. I would love to hear what you think of it if you want to leave a review.**

**And sorry for this chapter, is short and not really exciting. But it picks up a bit going into season 2.**

**Words: 2,821**

**(Rewritten) **

* * *

The next morning found Charlie leaving the room she'd slept the night before. She took to carrying her bag with her as she wandered the halls once again until she came upon the kitchen.

Moving further into the room, Charlie pulled herself onto the counter and pulled out her sketchbook once again. When T-Dog wandered into the room, the man jumped when he saw the girl but covered it with a laugh and moved over to the stove to start cooking.

"Need any help?" Charlie asks the man when he starts making eggs, she felt bad, just sitting there while he worked.

"Nah, I got this, little lady." He responds with a smile, glancing at the teenager from over his shoulder.

Nodding, Charlie goes back to her drawing as the others filter in over time. T-Dog brought her a plate of breakfast and the girl smiled to him as Carl's voice cuts through the quiet chatter of the room. "Are you hungover?" He questions his father when the man walks into the room. "Mom said you'd be."

"Mom is right." Rick told his son with a smile.

"Mom has that annoying habit." Lori responded as she took a bite of her bacon. Smiling, Charlie shakes her head as she eats her own food.

"Eggs, powdered, but I do 'em good. I bet you can't tell." T-Dog says, walking over to Glenn as he moans in pain. Someones not taking his hangover well. "Protein helps with the hangover."

"Don't ever ever ever let me drink again." Glenn says as Jacqui rubs his back. Poor kid.

"Hey." Look up from my almost empty plate, I see Shane walking in, not looking any better than the others.

"Hey, you feel as bad as I do?" Rick asks his friends.

"Worse." Shane responds quietly as he grabs a drink.

"The hell happened to you? Your neck." T-Dog questions Shane, noticing three long scratch marks on his neck.

"I must have done it in my sleep."

"Never seen you do that before."

"Me neither. Not like me at all." Squinting her eyes, Charlie looks from Shane to Rick, her eyes falling onto Lori as the woman hunches her shoulder, keeping her head low.

"Morning." The doctor says as he walks into the room, going the same way Shane had previously.

"Hey, doc." A few people said in greeting before Dale spoke up.

"Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing..."

"But you will anyway." The doctor said, finishing his sentence.

"We didn't come here for the eggs." Andrea said. Speak for yourself, T-Dog was right, he does make nice eggs, powdered or not.

Jumping off the counter, Charlie throws her bag over her shoulder and follows everyone out of the kitchen and into the big room from the previous night.

"Playback of TS-19." The doctor says loudly before adding more quietly. "Few people ever got a chance to see this. Very few."

"Is that a brain?" Carl asks when an odd picture of one comes up on the screen

"An extraordinary one." The doctor tells him as Charlie comes up on their left, Daryl a little ways behind her. "Not that it matters in the end." The doctor adds, more to himself than the others. "Take us in for E.I.V."

"Enhanced internal view." VI's loud voice says.

The screen changes then, it rotates to a side view of the brain. It was almost pretty, all the lights shooting through the organ. Almost light lightning during a storm.

"What are those lights?"

"It's a person's life experiences, memories. It's everything" The doctor says in answer to Shane's question. "Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light is you. The thing that makes you unique. And human."

"Do you make sense, ever?" Daryl asks the doctor.

"Those are synapses, electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages. They determine everything a person says does or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death."

"Death? This is a vigil" Rick asks the doctor, taking a few steps towards him.

" Yes. Or rather the playback of the vigil." He tells us.

"This person died? Who?" Andrea asks, sounding almost sad.

"Test subject 19. Someone who was bitten and infected And volunteered to have us record the process. Vi, scan forward to the first event."

"Scanning to first event." VI's robotic voice repeats.

"What is that?" Glenn asks as we all watch darkness slowly take over the brain.

"It invades the brain like meningitis. The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown, then the major organs. Then death. Everything you ever were or ever will be Gone."

"Is that what happened to Jim?" Little Sofia asks and Charlie moves her gaze from the screen to send the girl a sad glance.

"She lost somebody two days ago. Her sister." Lori was saying to the doctor, speaking of Andrea.

"I lost somebody too. I know how devastating it is." The doctor tells her. Everyone has at this point, haven't they? "Scan to the second event."

"Scanning to second event." Does VI really need to say everything she's doing? It's creepy.

"The resurrection times vary wildly. We had reports of it happening in as little as three minutes. The longest we heard of was eight hours. In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute Seven seconds."

"It restarts the brain?" Lori asks when she sees the little orange light starting in the lower part of the brain.

"No, just the brain stem. Basically, it gets them up and moving."

"But they're not alive?"

"You tell me." Definitely not.

"It's nothing like before. Most of that brain is dark."

"Dark, lifeless, dead. The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part That doesn't come back. The you part. Just a shell driven by mindless instinct."

"God. What was that?" Carol asks when a thick line suddenly shoots through the image of the brain.

"He shot his patient in the head. Didn't you?" Well, it was a walker, not sure what else you expected him to do, Charlie continued to think to herself.

"VI, power down the main screen and the workstations"

"Powering down main screen and workstations." Guess she does need to repeat everything.

"You have no idea what it is, do you?" Andrea asks in an accusing tone. It's not his fault, geez.

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, - fungal."

"Or the wrath of God?" That's probably a safe bet.

"There is that."

The others question the doctor about everything, other people, other places, but he just tells them he doesn't know. Everything went dark a month ago. Everythings gone.

"Man, I'm gonna get shit-faced drunk again." Or you could not, that's an option too, Charlie thinks as Daryl turns away.

"Dr. Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but That clock It's counting down. What happens at zero?" Dale asks, pointing to the big clock with red numbers on it.

"The basement generators they run out of fuel."

"And then?" Ricks asks, only to be ignored as the doctor walks away. "Vi, what happens when the power runs out?"

"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur." That doesn't sound good.

* * *

Affter everyone left the big room, Charlie took to wandering the halls for the third time. She tried to sit still but just got restless. It was when she heard voices that she started walking with a purpouse.

"What do you mean it's shutting itself down?" Daryl was asking when Charlie reached the group. She didn't hear the doctor answer but kept following from a distance as Rick started asking more questions.

"It was the French." The doctor says after a moment of silence.

"What?" Andrea questions.

"They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs until the end. They thought they were close to a solution."

"What happened?"

"The same thing that's happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice. The world runs on fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?"

"To hell with this Shane, I don't even care. Lori, grab our things. Everybody, get your stuff. We're getting out of here now!"

Backing away from the group as they all turn to get their stuff, Charlie feels her heart jump as a loud alarm starts blaring out across the room.

"30 minutes until decontamination." VI's voice rings out over the alarm.

"Everybody, ya'll heard Rick, get your stuff, let's go now." Shane yells to everyone, causing them to start moving again, stopping when a large metal door falls over the exit.

"Did you just lock us in?" Glenn asks before yelling. "He just locked us in!"

Trying to push down my panic at being trapped, I watch as Daryl runs onto the platform towards the doctor before getting pulled back by Shane and T-Dog.

"Jenner, open that door now." Rick says as he marches towards the doctor.

"There's no point. Everything topside is locked down, the emergency exits are sealed."

"Well, open the damn things."

"That's not something I control, the computers do." Talk about stupid, letting computers have all the control over something. "I told you, once that door closes, it stays closed. You heard me say that." Everything goes quiet for a moment as everyone looks around at each other before the doctor speaks up again. "It's better this way."

"What is? What happens in twenty-eight minutes?" Rick asks the doctor. Charlie had an idea of what happened, she just prayed she was wrong. "What happens in twenty-eight minutes!" Ricked yelled when Jenner only turned his back to the man.

"Do you know what this place is!?" The doctor suddenly shouted at Rick, standing from his chair. "We protected the public from very nasty stuff! Weaponized smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out! Ever!" Stepping back from the doctors' outburst, Charlie watches as he calms himself down. "In the event of a catastrophic power failure in a terrorist attack, for example, H.I.T.s are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out."

"H.I.T.s?"

"Vi, define."

"Hits high-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives consists of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen between 5,000Â° and 6,000Â° and is used when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired."

"It sets the air on fire. No pain. An end to sorrow, grief Regret. Everything." Feeling her knees go weak, Charlie steps back and feels a metal railing hit her bag.

This isn't the first time the threat of death has been hanging over the teenager's head and she had accepted the fact that she could die at any moment a long time ago. Or so she thought. Because standing here now, she could see that she hadn't. She may not have had a good life, but she was quite ready for it to end.

"Open the damn door!" Flinching at Daryl's raised voice, Charlie wraps my arms around her middle and lowers her head.

"Out of my way!" Shane yells before the sound of metal hitting metal echos through the room.

Charlie blocked everything that happened out after that until the unmistakable sound of gunshots filled the room. Jerking her head up, the teen sees Shane with his shotgun, shooting a bunch of computers. Rick comes up and struggled with him, overpowering his partner and throwing him to the ground.

"You done now?"

"Yeah, I guess we all are."

"I think you're lying, about there being no hope." Rick starts speaking to the doctor. "If that were true, you would have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. You didn't. You chose the hard path. Why?"

"It doesn't matter."

"It does matter, it always matters. You stayed when others ran, why?"

"Not because I wanted to. I made a promise...to her, my wife." The doctor says as he points to the big screen.

"Test subject nineteen was your wife?" Lori asks.

"She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no? She was dying. It should've been me on that table. I wouldn't have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the world. Hell, she ran this place. I just worked here. In our field, she was an Einstein. Me? I'm just Edwin Jenner. She could've done something about this. Not me."

"Your wife didn't have a choice. You do. That's all we want a choice, a chance."

"Let us keep trying as long as we can."

"I told you topside's locked down. I can't open those." Watching the doctor walks over to one of the computer screens, Charlie slowly uncurls from herself as he starts typing something, the big door opening shortly after.

"Come on!" Daryl shouts, waving everyone out the door.

"Hey! We got four minutes left! Come on!" Glenn shouts.

"I'm staying." Jacqui says and Charlie hesitates, her heart dropping as she looks at the woman. It was her choice, but Charlie liked her. She was sweet and kind. The world could use more people like her. "There's no time to argue, and no point. If you want to get out then just get out. Get out."

"Everyone go, just go!" Dale yells to us when Andrea says she's staying too.

Spinning away from them, Charlie runs alongside the others and up the stairs until they reached the top. Rich, Shane, T-Dog, and Daryl all bang on the doors and windows trying to find a way out.

"The glass won't break?" Sofia's small voice asks after Shane unsuccessfully shoots out the glass.

"Rick, I have something that might help." Carol says, leaving her daughters' side as she digs through her bag.

"Carol, I don't think a nail file's gonna do it." Ignoring Shane's slightly sexist remark, Charlie walks closer to Sofia and stands by her side.

"Your first morning in camp, when I washed your uniform, I found this in your pocket." Eyes widening slightly, Charlie looks between Carol and the grenade she pulled from her bag. Well then, she wasn't expecting that.

"Look out!" T-Dog yells as Rick goes to one of the windows. Everyone runs and ducks behind the stairs right before a small explosion along with glass shattering sounds through the room. Jumping up, everyone rushes to the window and climbs out.

Looking behind her one last time, Charlie hopes to see the others coming as well, although she knew they weren't. "Kid, let's go!" Spinning around, the teen rushes to the broken window and jumps out, Daryl following close behind.

Running through the yard, few people take out the walkers milling around as the rest run to the vehicles. Some to the RV, T-Dog's can or Carol's car.

Swinging open the passenger side door of Daryl's truck, Charlie throws her bag onto the floor before jumping in, looking up just in time to see Dale and Andrea climbing out the broken window. No Jacqui, at least she's at peace with her choice. Charlie still wished she wasn't doing it, but it wasn't her decision to make.

Hearing the RV's horn, Charlie moves her gaze away from Dale and Andrea and onto the building before lying down just as the first explosion goes off.

It felt like the earth was shaking, Charlie could feel the heat of the fire as the building crumbled to the ground. It felt like forever before she slowly lifted her head to look out the windshield, seeing the destruction that was once a large building.

There was nothing left. Just fire and rubble. Gone, all in just a few seconds.

Looking to her left, Charlie meets Daryl's eyes before looking back to Dale and Andrea as they climb into the RV.

Feeling the truck vibrate under her, Charlie looks out her window as they drive away from what used to be the CDC building, watching as the black smoke floats away from the fire, almost as if its darkness was taking over the sky.

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	4. Should Have

**Thanks so much to the people who have already favorited and followed this story!**

**I apologize, this chapter isn't as good as I wanted it to be but I really wanted to get another chapter up.**

**Word count: 4,796**

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We drove for a while, away from the city, away from the CDC building, until we stopped and left behind T-Dog's van, Shane's jeep, and Daryl's truck. Leaving me to ride in the RV. I didn't argue, I didn't say anything, although I could tell Daryl saw it on my face about how much I didn't want to. But, I didn't really have a choice.

Luckily, it was only Dale, who was driving, Glenn in the passenger seat, Andrea, Shane, and T-Dog who sat up front, leaving me space in the back of the RV. It was small and stuffy, but it was the best I was going to get.

I looked out the window and watched the scenery blur into a mix of colors, blocking out the others voices until I felt the RV slowing down.

"See a way through?" I hear Dale shout before the rev of a motorcycle engine.

"Um, maybe we should just go back. There's an interstate bypass-" Glenn starts only to be cut off by Dale.

"We can't spare the fuel." Trying my best to look over the others, I watch as Dale tries to drive through the build-up of cars before I sudden pop sounds and steam is coming from the RV's engine.

Sighing, I wait for everyone to get out of the RV before following, staying in the doorway as everyone's still crowded around.

"Problem Dale?" Shane asks the older man.

"Oh, just the small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of- okay, that was dumb."

"If you can't find a radiator hose here..." Shane says, trailing off as he looks around at all the cars.

"There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find." Daryl says as he looks through the back of a nearby car.

I hear everyone start to list off things they can find before Lori speaks up above everyone. "This is a graveyard. I don't know how I feel about this."

They're dead, it's not like they need it. Feeling eyes on me, I look around and see a few people looking at me, Lori included. Wait, did I say that out loud? Clearing my throat, I look down at the ground as I step out of the RV, something shiny catching my eye. Bending down, I easily pick up the silver coin, a small smile coming to my lips as an idea comes to mind.

Standing, I relax when I notice no one looking at me anymore. Watching for a moment as everyone spreads out, I turn my back to them all and stay next to the RV and hold the coin between my thumb, index finger, and middle finger on my right hand, before closing my left hand around it in a fist for only a moment, opening it to reveal that I no longer had the coin. Bring my left hand around my right hands' fingers again, I quickly opened them again, the coin reappearing.

Smiling to myself for remembering the trick, I turned around and let my eyes roam until they land on Sofia and Carl walking a little ways from their parents.

Walking through the maze of cars, I pass by Lori and Carol before stopping a few feet from the kids. "Hey, Carl, Sophia." Gaining their attention, I motion for them to come near me as I twirl the coin between my fingers. "You guys want to see something cool?"

Nodding their heads, both children smile as they give me their full attention. "Okay, pay very close attention," I tell them as I show them the coin before repeating the same trick I had practiced earlier.

"No way!" Carl says with wide eyes as Sophia lets out a joyful laugh. "How'd you do that?"

"A magician never reveals their secrets." I say with a smirk. "But, I tell you what. You guess find coins of your own, I'll teach you how."

"Really?" They ask at the same time, excited smiles on their faces.

"Yup. Just gotta find your own coins. I'm sure there's a few lying around here." Nodding their heads, we set out to find more coins. Coming to a car, Sophia goes to the right and Carl to the left. "Be careful, you guys," I tell them as I look ahead, trying to spot any threats.

"Carl, Sophia, Charlie." Someone whisper-shouts from behind me causing me to turn and see Rich with a panicked look on his face. "Get under the cars, now!" Turning, I grab Carl's shoulders and shove him under the closest car before crawling under myself, looking over him to see Sofia has done the same with the car across from us.

Looking the other way, I see Rick a few cars away from us and Carol with Lori even further. Looking back to Rick, I catch his eyes and he motions for us to stay quiet. Taking a deep breath, I slowly slide my arm over Carl's shoulders as I hear the moans and sluggish footsteps, soon seeing the feet that belong to them.

There has to be a hundred of them at least. Shit. Biting down on my lips to help me keep quiet, I look over Carl's head to see Sophia. She looks terrified. Maybe I should have run to her after I put Carl under this car.

Catching Sophia's eyes, I put my finger to my lips with a small nob, hoping to keep her as calm as possible.

We stayed there for what I'm guessing was only minutes but what felt like hours until the feet passing us by got fewer and fewer until they slowly stopped.

Looking at Sophia again, I see she looks calmer now before I turn my head the other way to look at Rick. Feeling Carl shift under my arm, I move it back to my side. Listening, I try my best to look out for any more walkers without moving from under the car.

Meeting Ricks eyes again, he gives me a small nod. Putting my hands down with the plan to slowly peek from under the car, I'm cut off by a high pitched scream. Turning my head back to Sophia, I look over Carl to see a walker on the ground, crawling under Sofia's car.

Feeling my heart drop to my stomach, I slide from under the car as quickly as I can, scratching the skin on my hands as I do so. Finally being free from the car, I rush around it seeing two walkers stumbling over the guard railing after Sophia. Not thinking twice, I quickly chase after them.

In my haste to catch up to them, I didn't notice the root that caught my foot, causing me to fall down the slope and into the forest. Quickly getting to my feet, I look around until I spot the faint blue of Sophia's shirt getting further away from me.

Pushing past branches and thorns, I race after Sofia and the two walkers until I catch up, grabbing Sophia from behind, covering her mouth with one hand as I drag her to the side and behind a large tree.

"Shhh, it's me, it's me." I whisper in her ear before slowly letting my hand fall from her mouth. "You need to be super quiet for me, okay?" Sophia nods her head and hugs her doll tight to her chest, a frightened look on her face.

Looking around the tree, I see the once two walkers picked up a friend, making it three. Reaching for my knife, I furrow my brows when all I feel is empty space. Looking behind me, I let out a quiet curse when I see an empty sheath. I know I put my knife back in it. Damn it, it must have fallen out when I fell. Shit.

It would be hard to take down one of those walkers with my knife, but three without it? Impossible. I sometimes hide my spare knife in my boot, but I never put it back in there after the CDC.

Okay, think, I need to think.

Seeing the walkers get closer and hearing Sophia's soft whimpers behind me, I act on the first thing that comes to mind.

"Okay, Sophia, listen to me. I need you to stay as still and as quiet as you can for me, okay?" Nodding her head, I guide her by her shoulder so her backs to the tree. "I don't have my knife, so I'm going to lead them away-"

"No! You can't leave." Sophia cuts me off with her panicked plea, making my heart sink even lower.

"I know, I know you're scared, Sophia, but I need you to be brave for me, okay? There's too many and I can't kill them on my own. I'm going to lead them away and double back for you, okay? You stay here until I come back, and if I don't, if I don't come back you stay here as long as you can the others will be looking for you." Looking behind the tree at the walkers, I see them only a few feet away.

"The highway is that way," I point back to where the highway is, being mindful of the approaching walkers. "If there is a threat you can't hide from, you run in that direction, okay?"

Nodding with tears in her eyes, Sophia hugs her doll tightly to her chest. "Deep breath, Sophia. I'm going to lead them away." Giving the small girls shoulders a squeeze, I make sure her backs tightly against the tree before I push my self away from her, looking to the walkers. "Hey, shitheads! Over here!" Watching the three walkers turn towards me, I take a few careful steps backyards, sparing one last glance at Sophia.

Turning away, I sprint through the forest with the three walkers right on my tail. I should have paid more attention and not dropped my knife. I should have put my backup in my boot like I always do. I should have hidden under the car with Sophia.

Feeling the walkers closing in, I spare them a quick glance before picking up my pace, keeping mind of the direction I'm going in. The last thing I need is to get lost.

Slowing my pace slightly, I bend down and pick up a fallen branch and look back to see only two walkers following me. "Shit." Where did the other one go? I swear he was there a moment ago. As long as he doesn't turn around and find Sophia.

Letting out a low whistle to keep their attention, I turn around again, keeping a tight hold on the branch as I see another large tree. Running to it, I hide behind it before peaking around to see how far the walkers are.

The closest one is about ten feet, the other one a few feet behind that. If they keep on that path I can try to take out the closest one with this stick, not sure about the other one, but I can't keep running forever, I have to do something soon, I'm past getting tired, my breathing quickly becoming faster and faster.

Rasing the branch like a bat, I take a deep breath as I listen to the loud, clumsy footsteps get closer and closer until they're right on me. Swinging as hard as I can, I hit my target, sending the walker to the ground, allowing me time to shove the branch through his skull.

Looking up at the other walker, I go to pull the branch from the dead ones head only to find it won't budge. Shit, it's stuck. Realizing too late that I didn't have time to pull the branch free, I look back up just in time to block the walkers first attempt to bite into my flesh as he overpowers me, pushing me to the ground.

Crying out as I feel a jolt of pain in my shoulder, I put my right arm under its chin, struggling to keep his snapping jaws from my face. Feeling a familiar panic set in, I feel myself get lightheaded as I struggle to get air into my lungs and hold the much larger walker off me.

Feeling the pain from my shoulder shoot down into my arm and my breaths coming out in short pants, I see black spot swimming in the edge of my vision and I hear distant, muffled sounds before the walker suddenly goes limp, his dead weight falling on top of me.

With the walker's dead weight added on to my already strangled breathing, I soon stop altogether until the weight is ripping off me, allowing me to take the biggest deep breath possible at the moment.

Still in a panic, I push off the ground best I can and push away until I feel by back hitting something solid.

Blood was pounding in my ears, I could feel my hands shaking as chills ran up my spine. Bringing my knees to my chest, I wrapped my arms around my head, folding myself into a ball.

Trying my best to focus on getting air into my lungs, feeling like my windpipe was closing up, I violently jump when I feel something touch my shoulder, causing me to fall away from the tree I was leaning against.  
Curling back into a ball, I hear muffled noises around me as I slowly and shakingly bring a deep breath into my lungs. Doing this a few more times, I hear the muffled sounds becoming more clear as my heart rate slows down.

"Charlie?" Blinking open my eyes, I slowly bring my arms to my sides and look up to see Daryl crouched a few feet in front of me, his hands raised slightly. "You with me, kid?"

Taking a moment to process his question, I give a shaky nod and unfold my legs from my chest. "Think you can stand?" Giving another nod, I slowly push off the ground, wincing when I twist my shoulder the wrong way.

Slowly rising from the ground with me, Daryl keeps his hands out slightly, almost like you would do when approaching a scared animal. "Charlie?"

"Sophia?" I choke out, my throat and mouth feeling dry as I look up at Daryl then passed him to see Rick a few feet behind. Watching the two men share a glance is all I need to know that they don't have her. "I had her- she.." I tried to say, but it felt like my voice was fighting me.

"You saw her?" Rick questioned softly, taking a small step towards me.

"We- I had her. The walkers were on us. I had to lead them away. I told her to stay put." I rambled, my voice suddenly working again. Pushing my feet in front of me, I only stumbled slightly before I started walking back the way I came.

I heard the others behind me as I picked up my pace, trying to get back to where I left Sofia, praying that she was still there, unharmed and safe.

"Hey kid, slow down." Ignoring Daryl, I keep my feet moving as fast as I can until I see the big tree in the distance.

"Sophia!?" I softly shout as I near the tree, seeing no sign of the small girl. "Sophia?"

"Charlie?" Turning around, I watch Daryl and Rick approaching me.

"She was here. I left her here. I told her to stay, that I would leave them away. I told her to stay-"

"Hey, hey, hey, look at me." Turning around, I look into Daryl's eyes as he crouches in front of me enough to meet my eyes. "Calm down kid, take a breath."

Nodding, I close my eyes before taking a few deep breaths. "Now, tell me what happened."

"I ran after Sophia, I caught up to her before hiding her behind the tree. The walkers were getting closer, there were three of them and I dropped my knife, I couldn't handle three so I told her to stay quiet and stay hidden, that I would lead them away. I had no other choice." Hearing my voice crack, I wiped my eyes as I felt them water.

"No, you did good, kid. C'mon." Motioning for me to follow, Daryl stood to his full height as he got ready to walk away.

"We have to look for her." I told him in panic. We can't leave her out here, she'd never make it.

"We gotta get you back." Daryl said, causing me to shake my head.

"No, we need to look for her." I stated more firmly, looking him in the eye.  
Looking over his shoulder, Daryl shares a glance with Rick before they both nod their heads slightly before looking back to me. Sighing, Daryl reaches behind him and pulls out a familiar knife.

"Found it at the tree line. Must be where ya dropped it." Nodding my thanks, I slowly reach out with my right arm and carefully take my knife from Daryl's hand. "Stay close." Giving another nod, I step to the side as Daryl looks at the ground before leading us in a direction.

He's a good tracker, I wish I could do that. The ground just looks like dirt and leaves to me.

Taking one last look around, I use my right arm to hold my left tightly to my chest to prevent it from jolting in any way. I'm not sure what I did to it, maybe I fell on a rock or something, but it hurts. It's probably just bruised, it doesn't feel dislocated or anything big.

I can't believe I left her. I should have kept her with me. I don't know if I would have been able to fend off those three walkers and keep her safe, but I should have tried. Now she's lost in the woods and we may not find her. No, I can't think like that, we will find her. We will.

We didn't stay out much longer, or it didn't feel like it. Probably because I didn't want to go back yet. "It's gettin' dark, we'll pick up her trail first light. We can't be out in the dark, we'd just be trippin' over ourselves, more people gettin' lost." Daryl had said when I protested, saying we needed to look more.

I wanted to fight him more, convince them to keep looking, but I saw the sense in his words. And my shoulder, along with my head, was throbbing. I was starting to lose focus, stumbling around the forest wouldn't do Sophia much good anyway. Still didn't make me feel any better about it as we neared the edge of the forest leading to the highway.

Falling back behind Rick and Daryl, I slow my pace as we get onto the road. I know the others are most likely waiting, especially Carol, for them to bring back Sophia, but we didn't. They didn't find her, they only found me. It's my fault, I should have stayed with her.

"You didn't find her?" I hear Carol's heartbroken voice say as I come to a stop a good few feet behind Daryl, keeping my eyes away from all the disappointed faces.

"Her trail went cold, we'll pick it up again at first light." Rick told her, trying to keep her calm.

"You can't leave my daughter out there on her own. To spend the night in the woods."

"Out in the darks no good. We'd just be trippin' over ourselves," Daryl told her, repeated the same words he had said to me.

"But she's twelve, she can't be out there on her own. You didn't find anything?" Hearing Carols voice breaking in sorrow, my heart sinks and I take a small step away from the group.

"I know this is hard, but I'm asking you not to panic. Charlie was with her, we know Sofia was out there." Rick told Carol, making her eyes turn to me, causing me to quickly look away.

"And we tracked her for a while." Daryl spoke up before anyone, specifically Carol, could say anything, soon being followed by Rick.

"We have to make this an organized effort. Daryl knows the woods better than anybody, I've asked him to oversee this."

"Is that blood?" Carol asked, her breaths coming out faster as she started to panic even more for her child's safety.

"We took down a walker."

"Walker? Oh my god."

"There's no sign it was anywhere near Sofia." Rick quickly assured her.

"How can you know that?" Andrea asks. I understand her wanting to know, but maybe just take their word for it. We don't need any more reason to upset Carol, although I guess telling her might make her feel better.

"We cut the sum bitch open, made sure," Daryl tells them.

Mumbling something, Carol takes some deep breaths as she turns to sit on the guard rail, Lori joining her.

"You were with her?" Hearing Carol's voice, I pick my head up and look over to see her looking right at me. "You were with her and you left her? Alone? How could you do that?" She asks me with anger and hatred lining her words, causing a nauseous feeling to come over me.

"I..." Struggling to find my words, I look over at Carol as she looks at me like I just killed her daughter myself.

"She had no choice. There were walkers on them, she had to do something so she led them away. It was the right thing." Rick quickly told her when I couldn't speak, crouching down beside her.

"The right thing?" Carol questioned, her voice breaking. "How is leaving my daughter alone in the woods the right thing?"

Feeling like my heart was being squeezed, I blink away the tears that fight to break out of my eyes as I force out the only words I can think of. "I'm sorry." Quickly turning away, I push my way between the cars and walk away from the group.

I know saying that I'm sorry, no matter how true it may be, won't do anything, won't change anything, and it sure as hell won't make her feel any better or bring Sofia back.

We wouldn't be in this situation if I had just stayed with her, protected her. Sophia wouldn't be lost and alone in the woods and Carol wouldn't be crying over the fact that she may never see her daughter again. And no matter how selfish it may sound, I wouldn't have the weight of breaking apart a family resting on me.

Family is important, something you should hold onto if you're lucky enough to have it. It's hard enough as it is without someone like me coming along and messing it all up. Why can't I ever do anything right?

Feeling like I'm far enough away from the group, I slow to a stop next to a dark blue car before crawling onto the hood and bringing my knees to my chest.

Letting my eyes slowly fall shut, I quickly snap them open when a pair of deep blue eyes flash in my mind. Taking a shaky breath, I dig the heels of my hands into my eyes, trying to ward off the unwanted memories.

Being so caught up in my thoughts, I didn't hear the approaching footsteps until they got right up on me. Taking my hands away from my eyes, I look to my left and see Daryl leaning on the car across from me, chewing on his thumb.

He's not looking at me, his eyes flicking between his finger and to the cars ahead of us. Maybe he's keeping an eye out for threats or just wanting somewhere to rest his eyes. I'm not sure why he's here, but I find myself oddly comfortable in his presence.

Resting my chin on my knees, I look out over the cars and up at the sky as the sun slowly sinks further and further causing the darkness to slowly take over.

"We'll pick up tha trail at first light," Daryl suddenly spoke, drawing my eyes to his darkening silhouette as he leans against a car. "Best rest up, be no good if yer dead on your feet."

Listening to his words, I nod my head in agreement but I don't make a move to get off the car. He's right, I know he is. I should get something to eat before getting a good nights sleep so we can get to finding Sophia first thing, but I couldn't bring myself to move off the car hood.

"Hey," Keeping my chin planted on my knees, I turn my eyes to look over at Daryl when he speaks up again. "Don' let her get to ya, she's just scared." Pushing back my confusion as to why Daryl Dixon is trying to make me feel better, I take my eyes off him and return to looking in front of me.

"Maybe, but she's right." I speak quietly and for the first time since he approached me.

"Nah, ya made the right choice, doin' what ya did."

"Did I?" I asked quietly as I looked over at him, meeting his eyes through the darkness.

"Yeah, ya did." He said more firmly as he pushed off the car. "No point thinkin' 'bout it now. C'mon." Nodding his head towards the RV, Daryl starts walking back, either trusting I would follow or not caring.

Sighing, I take one last look into the sea of cars before sliding off the hood, feeling my feet hit the pavement before following after him, keeping my distance.

Of course, I knew thinking about it would only make me feel even worse, but it wasn't easy to just set those thoughts aside. I know I can try all I want to push them to the back of my brain and try to distract myself from them, but they'll work their way back to the front of my mind. They always do.

Passing by everyone, I keep my head down as I march into the RV and grab my things before exiting and making my way to a nearby pickup truck and jumping into the back.

Feeling nauseous at the thought of food, I decided against eating dinner, lying down in the bed of the truck, using my backpack as a pillow instead.  
It was a clear night, the stars and moon shining bright, shedding a faint light down onto the highway. It was almost peaceful if I could only get the thoughts in my mind to calm down.

I stayed there for a while thinking. Thinking about Sophia and where she was right now, if she was okay, how scared she was. If she was still alive. Thinking these thoughts brought up old memories, causing me to ding the heels of my hands into my eyes again, trying to push them back to the dark corner they came from.

Throwing my hands down at my sides, I let out a frustrated sigh when I realize I'm not falling asleep anytime soon. Lifting my head off my bag, I pull it into my lamp and scoot back until I feel my head hit the back windows of the truck.

Opening my bag, I pull out the small flashlight and use it to find my notebook, resting it in my lap as I set my bag to the side. Using my right hand to hold the light, I slowly flip through the pages of the small book until I reach a blank page, pulling out my pencil. I'll need a new one soon, this one's getting smaller even faster than I expected.

Glancing up at the RV where I know Carol is before moving the light up and holding it between my teeth. Positioning the pencil above the paper, I slowly bring it down and started marking the page with an image in mind.

I continued marking the paper until it got hard to keep my eyes open. I knew it would still be hard to sleep but I didn't want to risk messing up the image.  
So returning everything to my bag, I slide back down again to rest my head against it, rolling my sore shoulder, and staring up at the stars until I feel my eyes closing of their own volition, thoughts of Sophia still running through my mind.

I should have hidden under the car with her. I should have put that knife back in my boot. I should have kept her with me. I should have been strong enough to fight off those walkers. I should have been stronger. I should have.

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	5. Searching

**Sorry I haven't updated recently, its just...writing's hard, okay, that's my best excuse. And school, that gets in the way.**

**Thank you to those who left reviews, they mean so much to me. They inspire me to write more and make me feel like I'm doing good when I think I'm not. **

**And thank you to those who have favorited and followed.**

**I tried to hurry with this chapter, so it's not as good as I wanted, I apologize for that. I still hope you like it.**

**Word count: 4,041**

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"The idea is to take the creek up about five miles turn around and come back down the other side," I listen to Daryl, watching Glenn's smile grow as he studies his new weapon. "Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark."

Catching Glenn's eye, he smiles a little bigger and gestures to his new weapon. I'm not sure what it is, looks like some kind of machete.  
Huffing a small laugh, I shake my head and break eye contact to check that I have my own weapons. Knife in its sheath, check. Second knife in boot, check.

"I'm coming with you." Says a small voice, drawing my head over to see Carl looking up at his parents. "You need people right? To cover as much ground as possible." As much as I hate the idea of him being out there, I can't help but feel he would be safer.

"Your call. I can't always be the bad guy." Lori says as she looks to Rick.  
"Well, he has all of you to look after him. I'd say he's in good hands." Dale states as Rick struggles to come to a decision.

"Okay, okay," Rick breaths out after a moment, patting Carl in his shoulder. "But always within our site, no exceptions."

Making a small whistle sound to catch Carl's attention, I smile at him and nod my head to the side, motioning for him to follow.

"You sure you want to go out there? It's dangerous." I tell him as I crouch slightly so I can look him in the eye. I'm not trying to scare him by telling him this, I just want him to know is not just a walk through the forest.

"I want to go. And I know it's dangerous but I'm not a little kid and we need to find Sophia." Listening to Carl's reasoning, I nod my head as he starts speaking again. "And you went out there when she ran."

"I'm older than you, Carl." I tell him, not knowing what else to say.  
"Not by much," He quickly argues back. "I should have done something to, should have helped."

"No." I quickly tell him with a firm voice. "You did the right thing staying where you were and don't you go thinking otherwise. Okay?"

"Okay," He mumbles, looking down at his feet.

"Hey," I say, causing Carl to look up at me. "You're brave, you know that?" seeing Carl's lips stretch up into a smile, I let a small one grow on my own face. He is brave, I meant that. He knows the dangers that are out there but he still wants to come with us to help find his friend.

"Hey, Carl sweetie, can you come here for a sec?" Looking over, we both see Lori standing next to the car everyone was gathered around earlier as she motions for Carl to come to her.

"Hey, Carl," I call as he starts to walk away, "Don't try to go up to fast, yeah?" Although he looked slightly confused, Carl gave me a quick nod before going to his mother's side.

Hearing slighting raised voices, I turn my head to the side and see Andrea arguing with Dale. She wants her gun back, I can understand, if anyone took my gun, although I never have it out, I would want it back.

I can also understand why Dale doesn't want to give it to her. Andrea almost killed herself and Dale cares for her, he doesn't want her to try again. And although I don't agree with her choice of suicide and I would also try my hardest to talk someone out of it, she has a point in saying it was her choice. I still don't agree though.

Plus it's probably not best for everyone to have a gun, especially people who don't know how to properly use them. Maybe she should just accept the fact that she's not going to get it back for a little while. I find it's easier if you just accept that the way things are are just the way things are.

Not long later, I find myself, along with the others excluding T-Dog and Dale, trecking through the woods.

I knew I wouldn't be able to stay up front, Daryl needs his space in order to track Sophia, and I'd just get in the way. And there's no way I'm staying in the back, not if Shane stays there.

So, I chose my spot next to Glenn, walking a few paces to his right. We walked for a while, Carl showed me the knife his parents let him keep with a smile on his face. I gave him a smile in return and told him to be careful and not to cut himself before he went back to walking beside his mother.

At this point I have no doubt that I'm probably covered in ticks, it's almost as if I can feel them crawling around on me. Who knows, maybe I can or maybe I'm imagining it. And although I'm not leading the way, the amount of spider-webs I've run into is astounding.

Soon enough later, we all slowed to a stop some feet away from a tent. Rick, Daryl, and Shane slowly approached before Rick came and told Carol to softly call out for Sophia in case she was in there, saying her voice is the first Sophia should hear.

"It ain't her." Daryl said after he emerged from inside the green tent.

"What's in there?" Andrea asked.

"Some guy. Did what Jenner said. Opted out. Ain't that what he called it?" As soon as Daryl finished voicing his rhetorical question, everyone's heads shot up at the sound of distant bells. Or at least what sounded like bells.

No one said a word, but after a moment we were all running in a direction.

"What direction?" Shane asks when we come to a stop.

"I think that way, I'm pretty sure."

"Damn, it's hard to tell out here."

"If we hear them, then maybe Sofia did too." Carol puts in, urgency in her voice.

"Someones ringing those bells, maybe calling others." Glenn says, soon being followed as the others put in their own ideas of who's ringing the bells before we all start running again.

"That can't be it, got no steeple, no bells." Shane says when we come out of the trees, seeing a small church not too far away. "Rick." He says again when Rick ignores him in favor of running through the cemetery and towards the church.

Keeping to the back, I watch Daryl, Rick, and Shane go up the steps and through the red doors into the church. Staying back away from everyone, I jump when I hear Rick very loudly calling out for Sophia.

Taking a deep breath to calm my heart, I turn back to the church just in time to hear the loud ringing of bells. Turning, I rush to where I hear the sound coming from, easily beating the others there.

Looking up, I see a speakerphone, a small pole leading down from it to a little box that holds a lot of wires.

Now, I have some experience with wires and technology, I've even hot wired a car before, but I honestly don't think there's a better way to do this. Not that it matters much anyway. So ignoring the possibility of getting electrocuted, I reach my hand into the box and grab as many wires as I can before yanking my hand back, bringing the wires with me, successfully cutting off the bells.

"A timer," Daryl breaths out as he paces a little in front of me. "It was on a timer."

"I'm going to go back inside for a bit." Carol says before turning and making her way into the church.

Throwing the plug of wires, or whatever it is, onto the ground, I walk around the church as everyone goes there separate ways and over to a big tree that's not far, seeking out the shade it offers.

Ignoring the obvious argument going on between Shane and Lori, I rest my head against the tree, rolling my shoulder. It still hurts, but I'll live. Letting myself close my eyes for a few moments, I take a deep breath as I listen to my surroundings. Might as well rest while I can.

"Are you sleeping." Peeking one eye open, I give a smirk to the young boy that stands a few feet in front of me.

"Well if I was, I'm not anymore."

"Sorry," Carl mumbles as he kicks lightly, stirring up some loose dirt.

"Nah, I was just resting. You still got that knife?"

Nodding his head, Carl walks over and hands me his knife. Carefully taking it from his, I turn it over in my hands. "It's nice. I don't know how long you'll get to hang onto it but you got to take care of it. Don't want it to get dirty and wet, it'll rust and become dull."

"I will." He tells me when I hand him back the knife, watching as everyone starts to gather around.

"Y'all gonna follow the creek bed back, okay? Daryl, you're in charge." Shane tells us as he walks over. "Me and Rick, we're just gonna hang back, search this area another hour or so just to be thorough."

"Splittin' us up. you sure?" Daryl asks them. I would second his question. I've never been one for big groups, but even I know you're not supposed to split up. Bad things always happen when you split up.

"Yeah, we'll catch up to you." Shane responds.

"I wanna stay too." Carl says, drawing my attention to him. "I'm her friend."

"Just be careful, okay?" Lori says after a moment, walking around Carl to give him a hug.

"I will."

"When did you start growing up?" Probably when the world ended.  
I know it's not my decision, but I don't think I agree with her choice to let him go. But that may just be the odd feeling I have in my gut talking.

Chewing on my bottom lip, I look around at the group and wonder if they would let me go with them as well. But in order to do that, I'd have to ask. This is Sophia we're talking about, I need to get over myself and just speak up if it means I can help more.

"Hey," I voice says, cutting through my thoughts. "You ain't stayin'." Daryl tells me from where he stands on my left. Is this guy psychic, what the hell?

Deciding it was no use to argue, I turn my attention away from him and towards the others.

"Here take this." Rick says to Lori, offering her his gun. "Remember how to use it?"

"I'm not taking your gun and leaving you unarmed."

"Here, got a spare. Take it." Daryl says, leaving my side to offer her his own gun instead. Pushing off the tree to follow, I spare a glance at Andrea, not missing the annoyed expression on her face.

Walking more towards the front of the group, I keep a good distance as I stop in order to look over my should at the church, seeing Rick, Shane, and Carl walking in the other direction, that nagging feeling still present in the bottom of my gut.

"So this is it, this the whole plan?" Carol asks from the back of the group. We haven't been walking too long I don't think, but I've never had the best sense of time.

"I guess the plan is to whittle us down into smaller and smaller groups." Daryl says. Let's just hope that doesn't happen though.

"Carrying knives and pointy sticks." Andrea says in annoyance. And I love my knife, thank you very much. "I see you have a gun." She directs at Lori.

"Why, you want it? Here, take it. I'm sick of the looks you're giving me." Lori snaps, holding out the gun to Andrea. "All of you." What? I'm not giving her looks. Why would I give her a look? "Honey, I can't imagine what you're going through, and I would do anything to stop it, but you have got to stop blaming Rick and especially that little girl." Lori tells Carol, pointing in my direction. Um, no, no, do not bring me into this. Why am I being brought into this?

Wrapping my arms around my stomach and ducking my head, I turn my back on everyone. Did she really need to say that? I have no doubt Carol blames me, it was my fault after all, but did she need to point it out in front of everyone. If it's one thing I hate, it's attention being on me. And also, "little"? I am not little. Okay, maybe I am small, I'll admit that, but I am not little.

I took a few small steps away from the others, making sure not to wander as Lori continues to talk, not bothering to pay attention to what she's saying.

"Hey, C'mon." A voice says, bringing my attention back to the present. Turning to the others, I catch Daryl's eye long enough for him to give me a small nod before we all start walking again.

"How's your shoulder?" Daryl speaks up from beside me after we've been walking a little while.

"Huh?" I question, glancing over at him.

"Your shoulder." He says again, keeping his eyes forward.

"Um, fine?" I tell him, although it sounded more like a question.

"Don't sound so sure."

"Yeah," I say, clearing my throat. "It's fine."

After that it goes silent for a while, everyone's footsteps and the creatures of the forest the only thing cutting through it, making it bearable to listen to. Until a loud bang sounds through the trees, sending a few birds flying.

A gunshot. Far off, but it was a gunshot. Ever had stopped and looked around. It's not like we could do anything about it, so everyone picked up pace again.

It's a little while later when Andrea decides to break the silence. "You still worried about it?"

"It was a gunshot." Lori responds from the back of the group.

"We all heard it."

"Why one? Why just one gunshot?"

"Maybe they took down a walker?"

"Please don't patronize me, you know Rick wouldn't risk a gunshot to put down one walker. Or Shane, they'd do it quietly." True, unless they had no other choice. Or maybe it wasn't even them who fired the gun.

"Shouldn't they have caught up with us by now?" Carol asks the group. Not necessarily, and they haven't, and we can't do anything about it anyway.

"There's nothin' we can do about it anyway." Again, with the psychic thing. "Can't run around these woods chasing echoes."

"So what do you do?" Continue the same we have been? I mean, what else?

"Same as we've been." Okay, I'm officially done. "Beat the bush for Sophia, work our way back to the highway."

"I'm sure they'll hook up with us back at the RV." Sighing, I turn back around to continue walking. Honestly, these little breaks are making me more tired than walking.

We stopped, again, before we really even started walking again. The others talked but I didn't listen as I decided to keep walking. I kept my pace slow though, in order to not get too far away.

Like the feeling in the bottom of my gut, a heavy feeling soon started to weigh on my heart. But unlike the one in my gut, I knew what this one was telling me. I was starting to believe we wouldn't find Sophia. I know it hasn't even been a full day, but it's just a feeling. One I plan on ignoring because we will find her. We have too.

"We'll lose the light before too long. I think we should call it." Daryl announced as we all came to another stop.

"Let's head back." Lori said.

"We'll pick it up again tomorrow?" Asked Carol with a glace towards Lori.

"Yeah, we'll find her tomorrow." She told the women before we all started back towards the highway.

"How much farther?" Lori asked a few minutes after we started walking again.

"Not much. Maybe a hundred yards, as the crow flies."

"Too bad we're not crows." Yes, too bad. That would be fun.

Shaking my head as my mind wonders, I look down at my feet, watching them crush dead leaves and small sticks under them. No point in trying to be quiet. I'm a pretty quiet person naturally, but it's an effort when walking on dried leaves that sound life someones crunching on chips with their mouths open.

Looking up just in time to sidestep a tree, I slow my pace to look at the other, making sure no one saw that. Talk about embarrassing. Luckily no one did.

I start to turn my head forward again, only to snap it back when I hear a loud scream pierce through the air.

"Andrea!?" Lori calls out, turning to look for said women.

Picking up my feet, I race after the others as they all run in the direction of the noise where I can faintly see a walker in the distance as the screams get louder.

As we near Andrea and the walker, I notice something coming up from behind them. Turning my head, I watch as the horse runs around us, its rider having just knocked the walker off Andrea. Horse? Wait, what?

"Lori? Lori Grimes?" The rider calls out, a thick accent evident in her words.

"I'm Lori." I think it's obvious who said that.

"Rick sent me. You've got to come now." The rider tells her. Rick sent her? Why? Where is he? What's happened?

"What?" Lori asks, voicing some of my thoughts.

"There's been an accident. Carl's been shot." Stumbling back slightly as those words hit me, I feel the breath leave me as my heart falls to my stomach, that heavy feeling that was once there suddenly suffocating me. "He's still alive but you've got to come now. Rick needs you, just come."

Sucking in a breath, I focus on the words "he's still alive." ignoring the fact that it sounds like he won't be for much longer. If he's still alive then that means it's not that bad or there's still something they can do to keep him that way.

"Whoa whoa whoa. We don't know this girl. You can't get on that horse." Daryl says, only to be ignored as Lori throws her bag onto the ground before climbing onto the back of the horse.

"Rick said you had others on the highway, that big traffic snarl?" The rider asks.

"Uh-huh." I hear Glenn breath out as he watched with a shocked look on his face.

"Backtrack to Fairburn road. Two miles down is our farm. You'll see the mailbox, the name's Greene." Pulling on the reigns, the girl takes off on the horse with Lori, leaving all of us watching after her, all in different levels of shock. I'm not sure how I expected this day to turn out, but that wasn't it.

"Shut up." Daryl says as he shoots the walker in the head with an arrow, pulling me from my thoughts.

"Shot? What do you mean shot?" What exactly about that needs explaining?

"I don't know Dale. I wasn't there. All I know is this chick rode out of nowhere like Zorro on a horse and took Lori." Glenn explained to Dale, him being the one to ask the former question.

"You let her?" Dale turns and asks Daryl as he climbs over the guard rail.

"Climb out of my asshole, man. Rick sent her. She new Lori's name and Carl's." Daryl says, walking past the man without a glance.

"I heard screams, was that you?" Dale asks Andrea as I watch from behind the guard rail.

"She got attacked by a walker, it was a close call." Glenn says when Andrea walks by without saying anything.

"Andrea, are you all right?" Dale asks in vain as Andrea only sends him a look before climbing into the RV, slamming the door behind her.

After that, I walked over a few cars to catch my breath before joining the others again before my mind had a moment to wonder because I don't think I'd like where it took me if I let it.

"I won't do it. We can't just leave." Carol was saying.

"Carol, the group is split, we're scattered and weak." Dale told her, trying to get her to see reason.

"What if she comes back and we're not here?" Just thinking about that happening makes me nauseous. "It could happen."

"If Sophia found her way back and we were gone, that would be awful." Andrea says.

"Okay," Daryl says while nodding his head. "We got to plan for this. I say tomorrow morning is soon enough to pull up stakes. Give us a chance to rig a big sign, leave her some supplies. I'll hold her for the night, stay with the RV." Yeah, me too. But I can just let them know that later.

"If the RV is staying, I am too." Dale says.

"Thank you. Thank you both." Says Carol, her voice cracking slightly.

Daryl gives her a nod before his eyes catch mine. Send him a nod of my own, I look away as I hear Andrea say she was in. I hope he knows that nod meant that I was staying. If not, he'll find out soon enough.

"Well if you're all staying then I'm-" Glenn started to say, only to be cut off by Dale.

"Not you Glenn, you're going. Take Carols Cherokee."

"Me?" Glenns asks with a humorless laugh. "Why is it always me?"

"You have to find this farm, reconnect with our people and see what's going on, but most importantly, you have to get T-Dog there. This is not an option." Furrowing my brows, I lean to the side to get a look at T-Dog as he sits on the back of the RV. I knew he got hurt when the walkers came but I didn't know it was that bad.

"That cut has gone from bad to worse. He has a very serious blood infection. get him to that farm, see if they have any antibiotics. Because if not, T-Dog will die, no joke" I don't see why you would joke about that. I think to myself as I watch Daryl from the corner of my eye as he moves over to his bike. Or his bother's bike I guess.

"Keep your oily rags off my brother's motorcycle." Yeah, his brothers. "Why'd you wait 'till now to say anything? Got my brothers stash." Daryls says as he digs through a bag of drugs. That's nice. "Crystle, X. Don't need that." Obviously. "Got some kick-ass painkillers. Oxycycline. Not the generic stuff neither, it's first class. Merle got the clap on occasion." Yes, Daryl, thank you for that image. I could have died happy not knowing that.

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I shake my head before turning away from the others.

I guess we're done for the night, nothing more we can really do. It's almost dark, we can't be out looking anymore, as much as that sucks. Glenn's going to take T-Dog to that farm, get him fixed up and check on the others. Nothing we can do for Carl, I just hope he's still okay.

Why is all the bad shit happening to the kids? One goes missing and the other gets shot. Why did Sophia have to get lost in the woods? I ran out there, the others should have found her, not me. And why did Carl have to get shot? I should have gone with them, then maybe he wouldn't have been the one.

They're just kids, they shouldn't have to deal with this stuff. They should worry about homework and chores, not monsters chasing them in the woods and getting shot.

Kids shouldn't have to grow up so fast.

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**Again, I apologize for this chapter, it's not exactly how I wanted it. Thanks for reading!**

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'-'


	6. Sometimes Lost Is Better Than Found

**Sorry for the long wait and short chapter. I just can't get passed my writers block. I tried writing a short one-shot to help but it didn't turn out as good as I thought. But what's new.**

**I'm going to try to get the next chapter up faster this time, I have some ideas I just need to get passed the slow parts, like this chapter, in order to write them. **

**Thanks again to all those who are reading. The one who have favorited, followed, and left reviews. It means a lot. **

**Hope you enjoy this chapter and I would love to read what you guys think.**

**I also didn't proof-read this so sorry for any mistakes made.**

**Words: 3,296**

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I decided to set up camp outside tonight. Less crowded in the RV and I like sleeping under the stars. And I love the sounds of crickets and all the other bugs, it's peaceful.

I'm close to the RV, in the same pickup truck as last night. I caught Daryl's eye earlier and although he didn't say anything, I don't think he wants me out here. I caught sight of him saying something to Dale with a small nod towards me. Not sure what it was about or if it even involved me, it's just a feeling.

I couldn't seem to get to sleep, not that that's anything new. I was lying on my back, looking up at the stars, when I heard the RV door open.

"I'm gonna go for a walk. Shine some light in the forest." Daryl's voice rang out through the darkness, causing me to sit up and look over at him. "If she's out there, give her something to look at."

"Can I come?" I quickly asked as Daryl turns away from Dale. Looking at Daryl, I see him chew his bottom lip as he glances up at Dale. "I mean, I could just follow you." I add in a bored voice. I may have sounded bitchy, but I can't sleep, I'm just sitting here with worry. And I can go if I want to, no one here is the boss of me.

"Fine," Daryl says after a moment of thinking it over, I guess. "Jus' don't run off."

"You think that's a good idea?" Dale asks from on top of the RV. Whether he was talking about going out after dark or me going I have no idea.

"S'fine." Daryl barely mumbles without stopping his steps. I'm not even sure if Dale heard him, but he didn't say anything else as we made our way down the highway, soon turning off into the forest.

We walked in silence for a while. I thought about breaking it a few times, I'm not sure what I would say though. At one point I thought Daryl was about to say something but then he didn't.

"You ever been lost in the woods?" I finally decided on saying, feeling the silence start to get to me.

"Yeah." Daryl answered, his steps not faltering.

"How long?" I whispered when he didn't elaborate any further.

"Nine days. Made my way back though." He answered as his eyes searched through the darkened forest.

"By yourself?" I asked. Not out of disbelief, but curiosity.

"Yeah. My old man was on a bender with some waitress, Merle was doing another stint in Juvie. Didn't even know I was gone." Daryl told me, some emotion I couldn't pinpoint slightly seeping through his words.

Humming to let him know I heard, I shined my own light to the left, trying to see through the trees, when he spoke up again. "You?"

"Huh?" I asked, turning my head to look up at him.

"Ya ever get lost?" He asked, quickly glancing down at my short frame.

"Oh," Looking back in front of me, I take a moment to think about that question. I don't guess he really cares and as much as I don't like talking, I'll take it over the silence at the moment.

I mean sure, I've been lost before, but nothing big like being in the woods for nine days. More like getting lost at the supermarket when I was four, and I don't think that really counts.

Feeling the silence starting to grow again, I realize I hadn't given an answer. "Not really 'lost', I just..." Trailing off, I briefly wonder why I'm saying any of this rather than just saying no. I've never liked talking before, especially about myself, so why am I doing it now? "Left." Feeling the words slip through my lips no louder than I whisper, I again turn my head to the left, not bothering to shine my light along with it.

"You stay gone?" Daryl asked, speaking up when I started to think he wasn't going to say anything else.

"I tried." I found myself saying, and not for the first time wondering why I was saying anything in the first place.

Before either of us could say anything else, a rustling sound from the right caught our attention. Aiming my light in the same direction, I try my best to see through the darkness as Daryl raises his crossbow.

Throwing a quick look over his shoulder, Daryl slowly moves forward with me behind him until we come to a stop at the entrance of what looks like a small campsite. There's not much here, a tent, a table, an old firepit, and...

"What the hell?" Looking up into the tree, I watch as a walker sways slightly from the rope around its neck. Must have hung himself. "Got bit, fever hit, world gone to shit, might as well quit. Dumbass didn't know enough to shoot himself in the head."

"Gotta give him points for his poeticness though," I say as I shine my light in the walker's face, his arms swinging out as he tries to reach me.

"Turned himself into a big swinging piece of bait and a mess," Daryl says as he also shines his light up at the walker.

"You good?" He asks, shining his light at my feet, allowing me to look over and see his face.

I'm not sure if he's talking about the walker or Sofia, or maybe even the conversation we had on our walk here, but as I look back up to the hanging walker I answer the only way I really know how. "Yeah." But I honestly don't know if that's true.

Nodding, Daryl give one last look at the walker before turning away from it, "Let's head back."

Hesitating in my steps, I shine my light around the small campsite again. I don't know what I expected coming out here tonight. If I thought we'd find her or if I just wanted to get away from my wandering thoughts, but whatever my reasoning, going back without her still makes my heart clench.

"Hey." Turning my head, I hold my light low as to not blind Daryl as I do my best to look at him through the darkness. "We'll find her."

"I know." I tell him with a nod. But I can't help wondering, will we?

* * *

I watched the sun rise from the roof of the RV the next morning. Daryl had gotten me to come into the RV when we got back, he said I shouldn't be outside alone despite the fact that someone was on watch.

I decided not to argue with him, he seemed tired. I was tired too, but that didn't help when I tried to fall asleep in the passenger seat, I ended up just staring out at the stars until I climbed to the top of the RV with Dale.

Sometimes later Dale went down and Daryl came up. We didn't talk, I lied on my back and looked up at the stars while he sat in the chair someone had moved up there until the sun was starting to get high in the sky.

That was the signal to leave apparently as everyone was waking up and making sure everything was packed up, giving one last check to the supplies and sign we left for Sofia. Just in case.

I had a decision to make. Ride in the car with Andrea or in the RV with Dale and Carol. I chose the RV. Sitting at the table as Dale drives, Carol riding in the passenger seat.

Looking out the window, I watch as the trees go by fast, turning them unto a blur of green and brown until we slow down as we pull into a long driveway that leads to a white farmhouse.

"How is he?" Dales asks as Rick, Lori, and the others walk down off the porch of the house, joined by a few new people.

"He'll pull through," Lori told us with a smile, earning a relieved sigh from most everyone. "Thanks to Hershel and his people."

"And Shane." Rick cuts in, "We'd have lost Carl without him."

Carl isn't my responsibility, he isn't my brother, he's not my family, but I still care for the kid and I'm grateful he's going to be okay, but I still don't like Shane. And although hearing the news that he's going to be okay is a great relief, the knowledge that Sophia is still out there continues to weigh on my heart.

The others talked a little more after they shared hugs, Rick explaining that it was just an accident. One of Hershals men was hunting and didn't see Carl on the other side of the deer. The same man, Otis, died when he went with Shane to get the medical supplies needed to save Carls life.

And that's how I found myself standing as fare off as I could from the circle of people as they all surrounded a pile of rocks. Hershal holding a Bible and speaking about Otis. A memorial service.

It was a nice thing to do, but I felt out of place. I didn't know the man and despite my best efforts not to, I couldn't help but feel a little hatred for the man who shot Carl. I know he didn't mean to and I told myself that but it was still there. Doesn't matter now I guess, he's dead.

I pretty much blocked out the whole thing, briefly looking up when Shane started talking before quickly going back to ignoring what everyone was saying.

When everyone broke apart, I watched Lori separate from most and walk towards the house. She must be going to see Carl. I want to go see him too, but he's probably not feeling the best and he needs rest.

"County survey map. Shows terrain and elevations." I hear Maggie say as I climb the latter up the RV.

I tuned them out for the most part, only turning my head towards them slightly when I heard the old man, Hershal, say he didn't want us carrying guns. Shane didn't agree but Rick said he would respect Hershals request because it was his property.

I can see where he's coming from, but I'm not going to dig through my bag and give up the gun no one even knows I have. I don't plan on carrying it around anyways, so I don't see the problem.

"I heard you're fast on your feet and know how to get in and out," Maggie said as I leaned my back against a tree nearby, cracking a smile at the look on Glenn's face. "Got a pharmacy run, you in?"

"Uh..."

"Miss, what's the water situation here?" Dale asks Maggie while Glenn struggles to get words out of his mouth.

"Got five wells on our land. The house draws directly from number one. Number-two well in right over there," Maggie says while pointing into the distance. "We use it for the cattle but it's just as pure. Take what you need. I'll go saddle your horse then." She tells Glenn before walking off.

"Horse?" Glenn questions with a glance to Dale and me.

"Got the wrong hat there, cowboy." I say to Glenn with a smile as I walk past, causing him to reach up a hand to touch his ballcap.

I thought I saw Lori by the RV a minute ago, I guess it's as good as a time of any to ask if I can see Carl now.

"Oh, Charlie." Lori says as she spins around, hand over her heart. I must have scared her when I knocked on the side of the RV.

"Sorry. I was just coming to ask if it was okay to see Carl now. I know he probably needs his rest, I just wanted to check up on him." I told her as I stood in the doorway, one foot dangling outside.

"Yeah, I'm sure he'd like that." She told me with a smile. "C'mon, I'll show you where he is."

Moving out of the way, I wait for Lori to climb out of the RV before following her up to the house, through the front door until we stop outside of a room I'm guessing Carl is in.

"He's sleeping, but you can go on in." Lori says when she turns back to me, offering me a smile before walking off, leaving me alone.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly and quietly walk into the room where I immediately notice the pale, limp body lying in the center of the bed.

Walking around the bed, I keep my steps light as I slowly lower myself into the seat next to it.

It's odd, how you can know something but the reality not really hit you until you see it. Like your brain can't fully accept what's happened. It's like that now. When I heard the words "Carl's been shot", I know I felt my heart stop and I knew it was bad, but seeing him now, looking so small and almost lifeless, feels like my hearts stopping all over again.

I know he'll be okay, that he's healing, but he shouldn't even be here in the first place. I know there's nothing anyone could have done to stop it and no one can change it now, but that doesn't stop me from wishing I could. He's just a kid, he shouldn't have to worry about getting shot and almost dying. No kid should have to go through that.

"Charlie?" I small voice calls, snapping me from my thoughts.

"Hey, champ." I greet Carl with a smile when I see his eyes open and looking over at me. "How you feeling?"

"I'm good." Carl tells me with a quick glance at his Stomach.

"Tough guy, huh?" I ask as I scoot forward in my seat, causing him to smile. "How do you really feel?"

"It hurts," Carl admits, "But only a little."

"Yeah, I know, little man. I'm sorry." I tell him with a sad sigh.

"Why? It's not your fault. And it's really not that bad anymore." Carl tells me in what I'm guessing is him trying to reassure me. "I saw a deer."

"Did you?" I ask, happy for the change of subject. "How big was it?"

"It was so big," Carl tells me as a smile grows on his face.

"Did it have antlers?"

"Yeah, they were huge, it was so pretty. You would have loved it." He says with a smile, causing a matching one to grow on my own face.

"I bet I would have. Here, I'll make you a deal. You focus on getting better and I'll draw you a picture of this deer."

"Really?" Carl asks, his smile growing even more.

"Really. But, I'm going to need some size reference here, so how big were its antlers again? About this big?" I ask, lifting my arms up, a short distance apart.

"Bigger," Carl tells me, causing me to move my arms farther apart and higher into the air and raise a brow in question. "No, bigger."

"Bigger, really? The poor deer probably had trouble holding his head up." I said, making his smile grow into a quiet laugh, only to be interrupted by the creaking floorboards.

"Hey, dad." Carl says as Rick takes a step into the room.

"I was just leaving," I stand, shooting Carl one last smile, "I'll see you later, buddy."

Rushing out of the house before anyone could stop me, I take a moment and let my eyes search over the farm before stopping on the stables.

Trying my best to ignore the heat beating down on me, I lift my feet as I slowly carry myself towards the stables, soon coming to a stop at the entrance, the smell of horses hay reaching my nose.

Letting my hand glide along the wood walls, I take slow steps down the wide space between the stalls, looking in at the horses.

"Hi there, handsome." I say with a smile as a dark chestnut colored horse slips his head over his stall door, allowing me to pet his nose. "How's your day going?" I asked him, earning a snort in return. "Yeah, that's about how mines going too."

"I'll keep you company for a little while if you don't mind." Rubbing his nose one last time, I turn around with my back to the stall door and slide down until I hit the ground, resting my head back, occasionally feeling the horses hot breath shift my hair around.

"I see you met Teddy." I voice sounds from my left, causing me to jump and snap my head towards the door to see the girl, Maggie, leading two horses into the barn.

"Oh, uh, sorry, I uh..." I stumbled out as I got to my feet, wondering how long I had been there.

"It's alright. He likes you." She tells me with a nod towards the horse, Teddy, as she continues to lead the other two horses into the stables. "You mind helping me?"

"Uh, no, no," I say, snapping out of my head before walking to the saddled horse Maggie had previously gestured too.

"You done this before?" She asks me as I start to unsaddle the light brown horse.

"Uh, yeah, once or twice," I tell her as I lift the saddle and blanket from the horses back before placing it on a stand nearby. "Brushes?"

"Over there," Maggie says, pointing to an old chest not far from where I was standing.

Retrieving a brush from the box, I walk back over to the horse before starting to brush her, Maggie soon following my motions with her own horse.

"You know, I don't think I ever caught your name." Maggie says from the other side of her horse, causing my eyes to lift and meet hers.

"Oh um, Charlie." I tell her after the brief pause in my actions.

"Short for Charlotte?" She asks me as she walks around her horse.

"Yeah, but I prefer Charlie." Finishing with my brush, I walk over and put it back in the chest I got it from before walking back over to the horse, letting her smell my hands before patting her neck.

"Well I'm Maggie, and if you ever need anything you let me know, okay?" Maggie tells me politely as she puts her own horse in its stall. "And that there is Rose, her stall is right next to Teddy's. And if you're up for it, I'm sure he'd loved for you to brush him."

"Okay, thanks." I say as I lead Rose to her stall, letting a small smile show on my face.

"I'll leave you to it. If you need anything you come find me, okay?" Maggie says as she takes a slow step back towards the door.

"Yeah," I say with a nod, double checking the lock on the stall door.  
Walking back to the chest, I pick out a similar brush and make my way to Teddy's stall door before carefully opening it, causing him to take a few steps back to allow me entrance.

"Good boy."I say as I hold out my free hand, letting him smell it before slowly walking beside him before starting to brush down his neck.  
Returning the brush to the chest, I return to Teddy's stall as he nibbles on the hay that's sticking through his hay net.

"Long day?" I ask him as he lets out a deep breath that sounds an awful lot like a tired sigh. "Yeah, I have a feeling it's the first of many."

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**Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed this short chapter, I'd love to read your thoughts in the reviews! I'm trying to write the next chapter now, but I'm really tired since I got my wisdom teeth taken out. That was fun.**

**Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed! **

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	7. Dreams

**IMPORTANT Question. What would you guys think of me changing the POV? Instead of from Charlies maybe make it more of a third person POV? This is very important to me with my writing if you guys would let me know what you think. I just want to write this story as best as I can and I don't feel like I'm doing that.**

**Sorry for the long wait, I just haven't had the motivation.**

**Hope you guys enjoy this chapter.**

**Words: 2,799**

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_Lights out of focus. Quite muddled voices. The feeling of the cold floor beneath the girl's hands and knees seeping into her bones as she shakes with fear and confusion. Struggling to calm her racing heart as she breaths heavily, peeking out from her hiding spot._

_Lights coming into focus as new tears leave her eyes, rushing down her cheeks only to soon be replaced with more, causing her vision to blur again. The voices still muffled as the blood rushes through her ears._

_She knew she was hurt, but she couldn't feel it as a numb feeling took over her body. Blood trickling from the cut on her cheek, chasing the tears that fell from her eyes. Scrambled thoughts running through her mind as she tried to grasp the situation. _

_What had happened? Was it real? It couldn't be. But it was. She had seen it with her own eyes, felt it with her own skin. What was she going to do now? The girl thought as she folded into herself as the voices seemed to get louder._

_"No, no, no, no.." The girl whispered over and over as she rocked in place, covering her ears, hoping she could disappear as a loud inaudible yell sounds throughout the house, causing the girl to jump with a yelp._

_Footsteps. Footsteps behind her. Quiet at first but getting louder by the second, the feeling of total helplessness sweeping over the girl as she feels a presence behind her, a large shadow blocking all light as it reaches towards her until-_

Jolting awake I quickly take in my surroundings, seeing the wood walls of the stables, soon realizing I must have fallen asleep.

Sigh, I let my head fall back until it hits the stall door I was prompt against as I get my breathing under control, repeating over and over in my head that I wasn't there anymore, gripping the loose hay beneath me tightly in my hands as if to hold myself here.

After my heart rate slowed, I used the stall door to help me stand, feeling my joints crack as I did. I guess sleeping on the hard floor wasn't the best idea, not that it was planned.

Jumping as something moves from the corner of my eye, I turn with my hand over my heart to see Teddy looking at me from inside his stall. "You scared me, buddy." I tell him as I pet his neck as I catch another shadow moving from my right.

Having calmed down by this point, I didn't jump when I turned my head away from the horse in front of me to see Daryl walking into the barn, his crossbow thrown over his shoulder and onto his back.

"D'you sleep in here or somethin'?" He asks as he walks closer, going about his business like he owned the place.

"No." I easily lied as I watched him stop his movements and look at me in disbelief before pointing to the right side of his head then to mine, causing me to reach up to my hair with furrowed brows, soon pulling a piece of straw from my hair.

"Of course." I mumbled to myself as I throw the straw onto the ground. "What are you doing in here anyway?" I asked him to get the attention off me.

"Goin' out." Daryl responded shortly as he picked a random horse from a stall. "You can't come." He quickly added.

"I didn't even ask." I said as I turned to him, spreading my arms out slightly.

"You didn' have to."

"I mean, I could help." I said hesitantly, watching Daryl stop his movements for a moment as he shot a glance my way.

"Nah, already one little girl lost, don't need another one." He said once he started moving again.

"I'm not little." I quickly said, realizing how untrue those words were as soon as they left my mouth, Daryl seems to think the same as he shot me a look. "Okay well, you know what I mean."

"No, now stop asking." Daryl said with more irritation in his voice.

"Technically I never actually asked." I pointed out, only earning me an annoyed look from the taller man. "Fine, just be careful or whatever." I said, trailing off awkwardly before making a quick exit from the stables to find something to do for the day.

I must have slept in as the sun was already high in the sky and everyone was moving around camp. Doing daily chores and whatnot.

"Uh, hey, anything I can help with?" I ask Mrs. Peletier, I think her name was, as I approach the petite women.

"That's sweet honey but you don't have to." She tells me with a smile as she sorts through some clothes, getting ready to hang them out to dry.

"I don't mind."

"Alright then," She gives in, small smile still on her face as she gestures to the clean clothes that need to be dried.

I spent most of the day with Carol, helping her out with small chores around camp like laundry and other things, all the while listening to her as she talked about things, Sophia included. She even got a small laugh out of me when she told me about the time Sophia had asked her if I was Snow White after first meeting me. I guess my dark hair and pale complexion reminded the girl of the princess.

A few hours passed by before we separated, Carol going inside with a few others to prepare for a dinner they planned on cooking as thanks to the Greenes for letting us stay on their farm, leaving me to wonder the camp until a loud voice called out, catching my attention.

"Walker!" Completely forgetting whatever it was I was doing, I force myself to walk over to the RV where Andrea had yelled from, seeing everyone else in camp gather there as well.

"Just the one?" Rick asks as he blocks the sun with his hand to try and see better.

"I bet I can nail it from here." Andrea says instead of answering as she picks up a rifle.

"No, no, Andrea, put the gun down." Rick instructs.

"You'd best let us handle this." Shane says as he and T-Dog join the small group, weapons in both their hands.

"Shane, hold up. Hershal wants to deal with walkers." Rick tells his friend as they make their way towards the far off walker.

"What for, man? We got it covered."

"Damn it!" Rick whispered loud enough for me to hear before rushing into the RV and soon returning with his gun in hand before chasing after the others.

I honestly don't see the big deal, it's just one walker, it wouldn't be the first time most people here have had to deal with more than that. But as I watched the four men get smaller as they ran out towards the walker, I couldn't shake the odd feeling that started to swell up in the bottom of my gut.

"Andrea, don't." Dales says in warning, momentarily drawing my attention to the blond women as she positions the rifle in her hands, using the scope to look out towards the others.

"Back off, Dale."

Well, that's just stupid. What the hell is she thinking? There are four people and one walker, no need to shoot it just to show off.

Jumping as the gun went off, causing a loud bang to ring out across the land, I kept my eyes forward as we all hear Rick's yells, causing the feeling in my gut to grow heavier and my feet to start moving before I could stop them, soon finding myself in a full sprint towards the group of four in the field, ignoring the calls from behind me.

"Shit..." I say as I come to a skidding stop in front of the group as they lift a bloody, dead-looking Daryl from the groud.

"He's just unconscious." Rick says as they start to drag him back to the house, my eyes watching after them as my feet stayed glued to the ground until I notice Daryl's bow lying on the ground next to me.

"Guys," A voice says, catching my attention as I lift the heavy weapon from the ground. "Isn't this Sophia's?" T-Dog asked, holding up a doll, causing silence to spread throughout the group.

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Leaning foward in my place on the front porch, I use a random piece of clothe I found to wipe some of the dirt off Daryl's crossbow. Does he ever clean this thing?

Hearing the screen door open, I look over to see Dale walk out and stand above Andrea as she sits on the steps. "How's he doing?"

"He'll be fine." Dale tells her, causing some tension in my shoulders to loosen. "What about you?"

"I shot Daryl." Andrea states, causing me to roll my eyes slightly.

"Don't be too hard on yourself. We've all wanted to shoot Daryl." Although that might be true, if everyone went around shooting all the people they wanted to, the world would have ended a long time ago.  
Shaking my head, I return my attention to cleaning the crossbow until everyone had mostly cleared out, going back to whatever it was they were doing before Andrea got all trigger happy, allowing me to walk inside and wonder until I found what I was looking for.

"Do you ever clean this thing?" I ask as I hold up the crossbow to its owner, watching as he shifted in the bed. I think I may have scared him, that's a funny thought.

"Shut up." He snapped as he finally settled into a comfortable position.

"Uh-huh." I hummed as I walked into the room, setting the crossbow by Daryls feet before sitting on the edge next to it. "So, what happened?"

Giving me an odd look, Daryl raises an eyebrow before shaking his head. "Nothin'."

"Did "nothing" hit you with a truck? Cause that's what it looks like." I told him, raising my eyebrow to challenge his own.

"Whatever." He dismissed me again, seeming annoyed by my presence.

"Whatever." I mimicked with a sigh, pulling the heavy crossbow into my lap. I had briefly thought I was kind of strong before I picked this thing up, it's freaking heavy. "I don't understand," I said aloud as I looked at the weapon.

"What?" Daryl asked, looking over to me in confusion.

"How you lift this thing all the time." I answered in slight bewilderment.

"I don't have toothpicks for arms." He said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I do not have toothpick arms." I defended as I jerked my head up to look at him.

"Sure." He said in what I think was a sarcastic voice, hard to tell with him.

"I shot a compound bow once." I said after a moment of silence, surprising myself at the sudden need for conversation.

"You actually pulled the string back?"

"Okay, what is with all the hostility?" I asked, unable to keep the small smile from creeping onto my face. "Yes, I pulled the string back and I hit the target, for your information."

"Sure." He repeated, using the same tone as earlier.

"Okay, shut up." I told him, throwing the cloth I had used to clean the bow as his head only for him to catch it and throw it back.

"Watch it." He warned in a not-so-threatening voice.

"Wanna play cards?" I asked out of the blue, holding up a deck of cards I pulled from my back pocket.

"Eights?" I asked with a hopeful look a few minutes into yet another game of go fish. Yeah, go fish. I had offered to play poker but Daryl said that was stupid because we didn't have anything to bet and he seriously doubted my skills at the game so we somehow ended up here.

"No." He said without looking up from his cards.

"You have to say "Go fish"." I told him for the umpteenth time as he refused to say it. I'm surprised I even got him to play in the first place. "Why is the deck so close to you?" I mumbled as I reached across the bed to collect a card from the pile.

"What happened there?" He asked with a nod towards my left wrist as I reached for a card.

Looking down at my hand in confusion, I see a few scattered markings going from the back of my hand and up my arm as my sleeve rides up. "Oh," I say as I pull my hand back to me, "Uh, glass. Fell on some glass a while back." It wasn't a complete lie, it was glass that caused the scars and that's all that matters.

"It's your turn." I say after a moment without looking up, the feeling of his eyes burning through my skull becoming too much to handle.  
"Threes." He says after a moment of thought.

Making an annoyed sound, I throw my number three card over to him while still keeping my eyes down until a noise outside the door caught my attention, causing both our heads to turn to see Carol at the door.

"Charolette, sweetie, dinners ready." Furrowing my brows, I look over my shoulder towards the window to see it getting darker outside. Had I been in here that long?

"Thank you." I told her with a polite smile before she left the room again, going to join the others.

"Go." Daryl said once she was gone.

"Nah." I said as I looked at my cards, not liking the idea of being in a crowded room.

"Yes." He said as he threw his cards down with the others.

"Hey! C'mon, I was winning that round." I said disappointedly as I looked down at the cards sadly.

"Yeah." Daryl said sarcastically.

"I was." I said weakly as I scooped up the cards. "Whatever, old man." Jumping off the bed, I straighten the cards as I walk out the door, ignoring the look Daryl through my way.

"Does anyone play guitar?" Glenn asked from the small table a little ways from the main dining table as I picked at my already empty plate. "Dale found a really cool one on the highway. C'mon, someone has to know how to play."

"Outis did." Patricia said, causing an awkward silence to ring out through the room.

"Yes," Hershal said after a moment. "And he was very good."

"Awkward." I whisper under my breath as I stand from the floor between the kitchen and the dining room, having claimed that area after getting my food and seeing the two crowded tables. Sitting bunched up against multiple people? No thanks.

Walking my dishes over to the sink, I quickly wash them before grabbing another clean plate and piling food on it and heading back to Daryl's temporary room.

"That was the most awkward dinner." I say as I set the food down on the nightstand. "Okay, probably not but whatever."

Plopping down onto the end of the bed, I rest my arms over my stomach, my right hand lightly tracing the uneven ridges of skin on the left wrist. "Eat your food." I tell him after a few moments of silence, not removing my stare from the ceiling until I feel something hit me in the side of the face, looking down to see a green bean.

"What the heck?" I asked Daryl, holding it up in question. How old is this dude? "You're a child."

"Thought I was an old man?" Daryl asked, playing with his food rather than eating it.

"Yeah well, you're both." I said before shaking my head as I realized that didn't make any sense.

"That doesn't make sense." Daryl said, pointing out my thoughts.

"I know." I said, sitting up on the bed. "Half the things I say don't make sense." I mumbled more to myself than to Daryl, rubbing my tired eyes.

"It's late, go get some sleep." Said Daryl, surprising me. Why does he care? "And not in the stables this time." He adds, causing me to look over at him with an annoyed look on his face.

"Okay, that was an accident." Sighing, I decide it's no point as I stand from the bed, suppressing a yawn, walking towards the door. "See you tomorrow, old man." I say as I leave the room, not giving him the chance to respond.

Waving to Carol as I pass her on my way outside, I make my way outside, enjoying the night air as I look up at the sky, the stars shining bright in the sky.

Now, only find somewhere to sleep.

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**Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'd love to know what you think of me changing POV and thoughts about this chapter, we got that little dream at the beginning of Charlies past. I'll try to write again soon but I'm going to wait and see about the POV change. Thanks again for reading!**

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	8. Peaches And Guns

**Short chapter and it's more of a filler, I just wanted to test out the POV change and I really like it, it's so mush easier to write it this way and I feel like it give you more insight on the other charcters. Please let me know what you guys think of the POV change.**

**Shola2001 asked a really good question in the reviews, it'll come up in another chapter with an explanation. **

**If anyone has any quesitons just let me know and I'll answer them. **

**Words: 2,094**

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Walking up from the stables, Charlie makes her way into camp, her eyes catching sight of Glenn passing out what looked like fruit.

He had been acting strang lately, today even more so. He seemed jumpy and nervouse. He had a secret and Charlie found herself interested in what it was. Normaly she was good at staying out of peoples business, if it didn't benifit her, then what was the point in her knowing? But she was bored.

"Hey, Glenn." She greets the older man with a smile. She'd been friendly with Glenn since she met him, he was one of the younger people in the group so she felt more comfortable around him, but even she knew she was acting suspicious with the over cheery smile on her face.

"Uh, h-hey, Charlie." Glenn greets the teenager. He wasn't a good lyer and he sucked at keeping secrets, he wondered he was the one who always ended up having them.

"What's going on?" Charlie asks him as she takes a peach from the basket he was holding, tossing it back and forth between her hands.

"N-nothing, why would you say that?" Glenn said as he looked at the girl before him.

"Okay, seriously, Glenn?" Charlie asked, the fake smile gone from her face. "What is bugging you, man? Spit it out, it's not like I have anyone to tell."

Looking over his shoulder, Glenn thinks over Charlie's words. This was killing him, having to keep these secrets from the group. What could it hurt if he told her?

"Um..."

"Spit it out." Charlie repeats when Glenn hesitates.

"There's walkers in the barn and Lori's pregnant." Glenn finally says in one breath, feeling a little better now that he wasn't the only one who knew.

Charlie felt her eyes go wide and she had to close her mouth as she felt it fall open. Damn, no wonder he's acting the way he is. She wasn't sure which subject she should even think about first. Lori is pregnant, that wouldn't be a bad thing if it wasn't the end of the world. She also wondered who's child it was. Charlie wasn't an idiot, she knew Lori and Shane had a thing going on before Rick came back.

But there were walkers in the barn. That seemed to take precedence at the moment. What if they got out and took the camp? How many were there exactly?

"Oh, I shouldn't have told you." Glenn grumbled as he took in the expresion on her face.

"No, no, it's fine." Charlie quickly assured him, "I won't tell anyone but I think we may need to mention the walkers in the barn." She told him in an even voice.

"How are you so calm?" Glenn whispered, leaning towards the teenager slightly, remembering his panicked state when he had discovered the walkers himself.

"Panicking isn't going to help anyone. And they're still locked in the barn, not roaming around the fields. You need to stay calm." She told him, pointing a finger at his chest. "I'm not going to say anything, Glenn, but maybe you should."

"Not about Lori," Charlie quickly added. "No, that's for her to tell. And would you relax? You're twitching."

"I'm sorry, okay? I can't lie, it's why I don't play poker." He told the younger girl. He sometimes forgot about her young age, if it wasn't for the fact that she was so small, he'd think she was a lot older than she realy was.

"You play poker?" Charlie asked, her mind wondering from the topic. Daryl wouldn't play poker with her and she really enjoyed the game, maybe Glenn would play with her.

"No, I don't," Glenn said with a shake of his head, looking down at the girl. "I just said that."

"Oh, right." She said, shaking her own head to get her thoughts back in order. "Okay, well, I'll leave you to it." Patting him on the shoulder, Charlie grabs two more pieces of fruit before walking away from Glenn.

"Hey, Carl." Charlie greets the young boy as she comes across him behind the Rv. "How you feeling, buddy?"

"I'm okay, got a knife." Carl showed the girl as she crouched in front of him, setting the fruit in her lap so she could take the knife to inspect it.

"Wow, that's really cool." She told him before handing it back. "You be careful with that."

"I will." The young boy says as he goes back to sharpening a randon stick he'd found on the ground.

"Hey, Carl," Charlie says again, gaining the young boy's attention. "Want to see something cool?"

"Yeah," Carl says with a smile, he was interested with his knife, but he was still a young boy, it was easy to get bored.

"Okay, watch this. I haven't done it in a while so I don't know if I'm still any good." Charlie said as she collected the three pieces of fruit and sat back on her heels. She held two in her right hand and one in her left and found her balance before throwing each one in the air separately and catching them when they came down.

Juggling, Carl realized the girl was doing and watched with a smile until two of the peaches hit each other and fell to the ground before she could catch them. "Ah, oh well," Charlie said as she retrieved the fruit. "You hungry?" She asks, holding up the peach she hadn't dropped.

Taking the fruit, Carl wipes it on his shirt as Charlie stands, prepaired to leave the young boy before he calls her back to him, "Yeah, kid? What's up?"

"If I show you something, will you tell my parents?" He asks the girl in a quiet voice, piquing her interest.

"Depends on what it is." She told him honestly, crouching back down in front of him. "C'mon, Carl, what's going on?"

Looking over his shoulder, Carl turns back to Charlie and lifts his shirt slighty to reveal a gun tucked into the waist band of his pants.

Sighing, Charlie shakes her head. "Carl," She mumbled before setting the fruit on the Rv's bumper and reaches out to carefully take the gun. "What is this?"

"I just though, if I had it I could help protect the group." He told her, feeling nervous that he'd get in trouble.

"Carl, it's good that you want to protect everyone but this isn't they way to do you. You could have hurt yourself or someone else." Charlie gently told the boy, holding the gun safely in her hands.

Looking down at the ground, Carl kicks at the dirt as he nods his head. "I'm not mad at you but I am going to have to give this back, okay?"

"Are you going to tell the I took it." He asks, looking up to meet her eyes.

"I think it's best I do," She told him. "I don't want you to get in trouble but lying is never the way to go, okay?" Saying that may make her a hypocrite, but she tried to tell herself it was different.

"Okay," Carl reluctently mumbles, nodding his head.

"I'll put in a good word," She tells him with a smile, patting his shoulder to try and make him feel better. "Maybe they won't get so mad."

"Okay," He repeats as Charlie stands, checking the gun before tucking it into her own waist band before going out to find Rick.

Jackpot, Charlie though when she saw Rick and Lori together and no one else around. The perfect opportunity, she thought, those don't come often.

"Uh, exscuse me," She said once she was next to them, drawing both there attentions to her.

"Hey, Charlie," Lori greets the girl with a smile. She felt bad for the teenager, knowing she didn't have any family in the group. She didn't know anything about her really, just that she was alone.

"Um, so, try not to get too mad but um," She said, reaching behind her to pull out the gun. "Carl had this."

Holding the gun out where they could see, Charlie watches the expresion pass over there faces. Lori was worried, immdeiately looking for her son and walking off once she saw him. Rick, took a moment and rubbed a hand down his face before taking the gun from Charlie, his hand touching her's slightly, causing her to yank her hands back to her side. And if Rick had noticed her odd behaivor, he didn't say anything.

Charlie kept her distance but stuck close as the others talked about Carl. It wasn't her place to intervien but she wanted to make sure Caril was okay.

"What's the verdict?" Charlie asked Carl as he approached her. She highly doubted the kid knew what the word meant but she figured he'd undertand what she was asking.

"Dad convinced mom to let me learn how to shoot." He told the girl as he approached her, a small smile on his face. "Are you gonna come?"

"I know how to shoot," Charlie said, shaking her head.

"You do?" He asked her, surprised.

"Don't sound so surprised, just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't do things." She joked, bumping his shoulder with hers when he sat next to her.

"I didn't mean it like that." He told her with a laugh.

"I know kid," She said, ruffling his hair. "I know."

"Ready to go, Carl?" Rick asked as he appraoched to two of them, smiling when he saw Carl laughing.

"Yeah," Carl said, jumping to his feet. "I asked Charlie to come but she says she can already shoot." He said to his father, drawing Rick's attention to the young girl, watching as she just shrugged her shoulders at him.

"Well, I have no doubt about that," Rick started, not truly meaning his words Charlie suspected but wasn't quite sure. "But I'd feel better if you still came with us."

Thinking over his words, Charlie decided it couldn't hurt. They'd be more inclined to let her carry a gun if they knew she could shoot. Well, mostly, she knew how guns worked and she was an okay shot but she wasn't the best. Practice probably wasn't the worst idea.

"Fine," She said with a sigh, standing to her feet.

"Yes!" Carl cheered, grabbing her hand and dragging her along with him as Charlie tried her best not to flinch at the contact.

Charlie chose to ride in the back of the truck instead of inside one of the cars as it gave her more space as they rode out to a field surrounded by woods, a fence a little ways away from where they set up bottles and cans as targets.

"Charlie, you're up," Rick told the teenger as he motions to the stop in front of him. "I want you to use this gun," He said, handing her a smaller black handgun that Charlie didn't know the name of. "It doesn't have a big kick to it."

"Okay," Charlie said simply, taking the gun from him and turning towards the tagets, lining up her shot.

She didn't wait for him to tell her to go or anything, she knew she was holding the gun correctly and once she got her shot, she slipped her finger onto the trigger and squeezed the gun, hitting her taget.

She surprised herself with that, she knew she could hit the target, she just wasn't expecting to hit it on her first try.

"Maybe you do know what you're doing," Rick said with a small laugh.

Choosing not to argue with the man, Charlie went about practicing her shot. Sure she missed a few times but ended up hitting all her targets without having to reload.

"I wish I could shoot like that." Carl told her as she joined him in sitting on the trucks tail bed.

"What are you talking about? You did great?" She told him, and for a second she thought she saw his already red cheeks get even more red.  
"Not as good as you." He said. Carl wouldn't admit it to anyone but he looked up to Charlie, she was cool and was always nice to him.

"Nah, that was just luck. And I have no doubt you'll be an even better shot than me one day."

"You really think so?" He asked the older girl, excitement and hope shining in his eyes.

"I know so." She told him with a wink, looking into his eyes before bumping his shoulder with hers.

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**A little bonding between Charlie and Carl, I want to try and develop their relationship more. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and the change to the writing, let me know what you think about it and any questions you have.**

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	9. Sick or Dead

**Another chapter with the POV change, I hope you guys are liking it better and let me know if you are. **

**Words: 2,777**

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"What, no pictures?" Charlie joked, more to herself than her seemingly unamused company as she tossed the book across his tent. "Tough crowd." She mumbled to herself as Daryl only continued poking holes in the tents window.

"Do you think you could show me how to shoot this sometime?" Charlie asks as she played with the crossbow strap. It wasn't the question that she wanted to ask, the one that had been on her mind for a long time now, she just wasn't sure how to approach it.

She thought about asking one of the others, Glenn, Rick, or T-Dog. They would all know what happened, but it just didn't feel right to ask them. So she decided to give him time and then eventually ask Daryl about it, but she had to actually get him talking first, so far he'd only mumbled a small greeting when she entered the tent.

"Yeah, the day you can lift it on your own." He told her without moving his eyes away from the tents mesh window.

"I can," Charlie said, sounding offended. She could lift it, just couldn't pull the string back.

"Uh-huh." Daryl mumbled sarcastically, doubting the tiny girl's strength. When he'd first seen her, he thought she was younger than she was and when he found out her age, he wondered why she was so small.

"So," Charlie started, thinking there was no better time than the present. "I had a question, totally don't have to answer it though."

"Spit it out."

"What happened to Merle?" She said, watching as Daryl stopped his movement before turning to meet her eyes for the first time that day. "Totaly don't have to answer." Charlie whispered again.

Turning away from the girl again, Daryl thought over her question. He wasn't sure why she even asked, why she would even care. Sure Charlie and his brother interacted on a few occasions and he'd noticed his brother acting odd when they did. He was almost soft around the girl, and not in a creepy way, but a protective way. It confused him at first but he just shook it off and forgot about it.

At this point, Charlie didn't think he was going to answer her question, so when he started speaking, his voice surprised her a bit. "He's gone when we got there. Cut off 'is own hand."

"Damn," Charlie mumbled. She's done some crazy things in her life but she couldn't imagine cutting off her own hand.

When she first met the Dixon brothers she didn't blink as the others had. She didn't see them as odd or dangerous, she just saw them as other people. Though she did see a familiar look in the older one's eye, it wasn't always there, he wore it almost like a shield. They'd talked on a few occasions, not really about anything, just stuff.

She'd asked him once about his behavior, figuring it couldn't hurt, and about why he wasn't rude with her like he was everyone else. He'd just laughed and said something about having things in common. She'd just shook her head and went with it.

"You think he's still out there?" Charlie asked as her curiosity got the better of her.

"Only person I know who can kill Merle is Merle." Is all he told the girl and it was enough for her as she nodded her head, dropping the subject.

"Where you been all day?" Daryl surprised himself by asking, for once not liking the silence that hung in the air.

"Gun practice," Charlie said as tosses a random rock around her hands.

"You can shoot?" Daryl asked the girl with mock surprise.

"Okay, seriously?" She deadpanned, giving him a very unamused look.

Not having anything else to do, Charlie spent the rest of the day there, either her or Daryl occasionally breaking the silence with a question or statement.

It was hard for Charlie or Daryl to find someone they didn't mind being around for more than a few minutes. Charlie's just never been a people person, not wanting to be around them as they make her skin crawl but she didn't mind being around Daryl or the kids. And with Sophia being lost it was just Carl and he could be a chatterbox sometimes. As much as she liked the kid, sometimes silence was necessary.

Daryl was similar, he wasn't a big people person either, the reasons being different and the same. But he didn't mind Charlie's presence, they shared the need for silence most of the time, occasionally having a short conversation. And there was something about the girl that made him protective of her, not that he would admit that. He wanted to say he didn't know what it was but deep down he knew why. He saw himself in her. A scared kid who hid it well, not showing anyone what they felt or the scars on their skin.

* * *

Dale knew. About the walkers in the barn. Charlie had heard Glenn talking to him about it, telling Dale he had decided to say something that morning while everyone was in camp.

She'd be lying if she said she wasn't relieved by that. Although she knew it was most likely going to be a shit show, she felt better knowing that other people would be aware of the threat lurking so close to them.

And she had let Glenn know what she thought, in fewer words of course. She just let him know it was the right desition and he'd only nodded before walking off, leaving her standing next to Dale, the two sharing a look as the young man walked off.

Scratching the back of her head, Charlie catches Daryl's eye from where he sits by the fire. She held it for a second before shaking her head and looking away. She wanted everyone to know, but she also knew it wasn't going to go well. She didn't get enough sleep for this shit.

"Um, guys," Glenn says, trying to gain everyone's attention as he rubbed a nervous hand over his face. "So..." He trailed off as everyone went on with their morning, silently listening to his words. "The barns full of walkers."

And here we go, Charlie thought as everyone froze for a moment, staring at Glenn as they took in his words.

It wasn't long before everyone dropped what they were doing and followed Rick and Shane down to the barn, Charlie dragging her feet as she stayed to the back of the crowd.

"You can not tell me you are alright with this." Shane said as he held his hat with a tight grip, pacing around as he couldn't seem to stand still.

"No, I'm not. But we're guests here. This isn't our land." Rick told him as he kept an eye on the barn.

"This is our lives!" Shane shouted. Great idea, Charlie though, yell right outside the barn full of flesh-eating monsters that are attracted to noise.

"Lower your voice." Lori hissed to him as he walked by her.

"We can't just sweep this under the rug." Said Andrea, putting in her two cents on the matter.

"It ain't right. Not remotely."

"Okay, we've either got to go in there, we've got to make things right or we've just got to go. Now we have been talking about fort benning for a long time."

"We can't go."

"Why, Rick? Why?"

"Cause my daughters still out there." Carol said, speaking up for the first time, her words sending a pang of sadness through Charlie's heart.

"Okay," Shane said with a scoff like it was the most ridiculous thing in the world. "I think it's time that we all start to just consider the other possibility."

"Shane, we're not leaving Sofia behind."

"I'm close to finding this girl. I just found her damn doll two days ago." Daryl said angrily, throwing his arm out as he stepped closer to Shane.

"You found her doll, Daryl. That's what you did, you found a doll." Shane shot back with another scoff.

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about!" Daryl yelled at the man as Rick got between the two.

"I'm just saying what needs to be said. You get a lead in the first forty-eight hours-"

"Shane, stop."

"Let me tell you something else man, if she were alive out there and saw you coming all methed out with your buck knife and geek ears around your neck, she would run in the other direction." Shane shouted at Daryl, causing Rick to jump between them as they lunged for each other, Charlie taking a few steps back from her position beside Dale.

"Just let me talk to Hershal, let me figure it out." Rick said once the fight was broken up.

"What are you gonna figure out!?" Shanes asked.

"If we're gonna stay, if we're gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it. This is his land."

"Hershal sees those things in there as people." Dale said as he took a few steps towards Rick. "Sick people. His wife, his stepson."

"You knew?"

"Yesterday, I talked to Hershal,"

"And you waited to the night?"

"I thought we could survive one more night, we did," Dale said with a glance to Shane. "I was waiting till this morning to say something but Glenn wanted to be the one."

"The man is crazy, Rick. If Hershal thinks those things are alive or no-" Shane was yelling before he was cut off by the sound of the barn doors rattling and walkers growling filling the air, causing everyone to freeze as they looked towards the barn.

After waiting a minite to make sure the doors weren't going to burst open, Charlie rolls her eyes before turning away from the group and walking back towards camp.

* * *

"I don't know why I have to do it." Carl said as he played in the dirt with a stick he had picked up from the ground, leaning his back against a tree.

"Well, cause you gotta learn," Charlie told him as she sat by his feet. Charlie had wandered off after the whole thing at the barn and Carl found her a little while later, complaining to her about having to do school work.

"You don't have to do school," He mumbled, jealous that he was the only one who had to do it without Sophia there.

"That's because I'm older," She informed the young boy. "I've already done it." Of course, she hadn't been finished with school, but she had passed Carl's level many years ago. Charlie actually did very well in school, she was a grade ahead of other people her age and suspected she'd be even further if it wasn't for all the moving around she did.

"Do you think you could help me sometime?" Carl asked her, knocking her foot with the stick he had.

"What about your mother?" She asked him with a little laugh, looking up at him.

"I mean, she's good and all but, I don't know," said Carl as he wasn't sure what to say. Of course he liked his mom helping him but she got distracted easily and he sometimes felt pressure to get everything right when she was hovering over his shoulder.

"Carl, I'd be happy to help you out, just make sure it's okay with your mom first, okay?" She told him. It wouldn't be the first time she's helped younger kids with homework, she'd done it quite a bit before.

"Okay, cool." Carl said with a smile, excited to have his friend help.

"I think she's looking for you," Charlie said as she saw Lori a little distance away, her eyes scanning her surroundings. "You go, I'll help you if she says it's okay."

"Okay," Carl says before rushing off to catch his mother.

Looking out at her surroundings, Charlie keeps the mother and son in her perifocal vision, turning back to them fulling when she saw Carl motioning for her to come over to them.

"Mom wants to talk to you," He said to the girl as she approached.

"Carl says you offered to help him with his school?" Lori said to the girl. She would appreciate the help of course but she wanted to be sure Charlie didn't teach Carl anything wrong.

"Yeah, I'd be happy to help. Um, I used to help with kids before," Charlie said and motioned around her. "I loved school." She added. She knew Lori was skeptical of her knowledge and that was fine, she was used to people underestimating her.

"Okay, maybe sit in with us today? We'll see how it goes." Lori suggests earning a nod from Charlie before the trio walked to a table and set up Carl's books.

Charlie kept a close eye on Carls work, making sure he did everything right and whenever he had a question, he'd voice it to her. It went on for a little while and Charlie found herself enjoying it, it felt nice and almost normal. It brought back memories.

Sometime later, after Carl hadn't been having any trouble, Charlie let her eyes wander for a bit until they landed on the stables and she saw a pissed off looking Daryl storming out, Carol emerging a few moments later.

"Um, I'll see you guys later, okay?" Charlie said to the two, barely glancing long enough to see Lori's nod before she started towards Carol, the older women walking at a slow pace with her arms wrapped around herself.

"Hey, Carol?" She called when she got closer to the women, joining her as she walked. "You okay? I mean, stupid question." She mumbled to herself, of course she wasn't okay, her daughter was missing. "I mean, I just saw Daryl, he looked mad."

"Oh, I'm fine, sweetie, thanks for asking." The older women assured the girl but Charlie could tell her heart wasn't in it.

"Look," Charlie started, hoping she could help the women feel better. But Charlie was better with children than she was with adults, despite all her experience with them. "I don't know what, or even if, Daryl said anything, but he didn't mean it. He does care, he just doesn't know how to show it."

"Thank you, for saying that." Carol told her, truly meaning her words as she looked down to the shorter girl.

"And I know you've probably heard this over a million times, but we'll find her," Charlie said, knowing she was annoyed with hearing that and the false hope if brought, and that maybe she was already excepting that they wouldn't find her, but Charlie thought she needed to hear them anyway.

"I appreciate that," Carol told Charlie as the young girl stepped away slightly as she though Carol may put a hand on her shoulder.

Nodding her head at a loss for any more words, Charlie gives the women a smile before running off again. She thought about going to look for Daryl but she wasn't sure if she should. She knew he was angry and thought it might be better for him to be alone until he got over it. What would she say to him anyway? "Hey, stop being an ass, it's really annoying?" Yeah, cause that would go over really well.

But then again maybe he needed some kind of push, someone to tell him to take a chill pill. Although Charlie didn't think she'd use those words as it didn't go to well the last time she'd told someone that.

She decided there was nothing else for her to do, Lori was watching over Carl so she wasn't needed there, so she went in search of the man, hoping he had cooled off by the time she'd found him.

"What're you lookin' at?" Daryl asked the girl as she approached him, earning only a lazy strung as she leaned her back against a tree, watching him as he paced.

"Yeah, whatever." Said Daryl after he saw the look on her face, seeming to understand why she was there.

"I didn't say anything," Charlie said innocently as she watched Daryl's pacing stop.

"Ya didn' have too." He told her, dropping his chin to his chest as he chewed on his thumb before looking back up to her. "Don' you have somewhere to be?"

"No," Charlie says with a shake of her head, his attitude or words not seeming to perturb her. "But I think you do, so I'll leave you to it." She said before pushing away from the tree and walking back to camp, leaving Daryl to scoff at her retreating form.

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**Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and let me know what you think, the reviews really help me write, especially if you guys let me know what you want to see happen with this story.**

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'-'


	10. Memories of the Past

**Not much to say here, just that I hope you guys are enjoying this story and maybe let me know if you are. Thanks for reading!**

**Words: 3,418**

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After her "talk" with Daryl, Charlie went to check up on Carl, making sure he was done with school and wasn't upset with her for running off like she had.

To her relief, he wasn't. He had finished a few minutes after she had left and was reading, not far from Lori as she worked, sorting through vegetables.

"Are you worried about the walkers in the barn?" Carl asked the girl out of the blue.

"No," Charlie replied after she looked down at the boy as he set his book aside. Of course, she was a little worried about the walkers in the barn, but she wasn't going to tell him that, it would just make him worry and that was never good.

"Why not?" He asked, looking up at the girl sitting next to him.

"Well, because they're locked in the barn. They can't get out unless we let them." She informed the younger boy.

"What if they do?"

"They won't. But if they do, you'd be safe, don't worry." She believed her words, she didn't think she walkers would be getting out any time soon, the barn seemed secure enough but if they did break out, it wouldn't go unnoticed and they'd do something about it.

Carl opened his mouth to say something else but stopped as the two heard approaching footsteps and Shane soon came into view.

"Hey, Shane, can I talk to you for a second?" Carl asked the man as he stood up to meet him, leaving Charlie sitting on the ground to pick up his book and act like she was reading it. It may be rude to listen in on their conversation but she honestly didn't give a damn. Especially if it was Shane, she didn't trust the guy.

"You okay?" Shane asks Carl, ignoring the teenage girl on the ground a few feet away.

"Yeah. I know you think that Sophia is dead and that we should stop looking for her," Carl started, his words growing hard as he started to feel a little angry. "But that's bullshit." He said, hesitating slightly before he cussed, drawing a small smile from Charlie, her eyes still on the words of the book.

"Hey, man, watch your mouth."

"We're going to stay here until we find her," Carl continued, ignoring Shanes warning.

"You think that's what we should do?"

"That's what I know we should do," Carl said before Shane had even gotten all the words out of his mouth.

"Then we stay. That means we got to do whatever we got to do to make that happen. Hmm?" Shane said with an odd edge to his voice only Charlie picked up on, her brows furrowing as she looked to the side.

"Like help out with the chores?"

"Like help out with the chores." Shane repeated in agreement as he placed a hand on Carl's shoulder, and Charlie had a feeling he meant more than helping out with chores.

"Carl!" Lori called from her seat a little ways away, gaining his and Shane's attention. "Come here for a minute."

"Why don't you go see what your mom wants?" Shane suggested to Carl, patting him on the shoulder as he did. "Go on. And don't let me hear you talk like that again."

Watching Carl run off to his mother, Charlie closes the book in her lap as she turns to look up at Shane, studying his face as he watched Carl as well. She didn't like the look he had there at all, or the odd tone in his voice when he was talking about doing whatever it took to stay here, she didn't like it at all as it brought back a memory of someone she wished she could forget about.

"What?" Shane questioned when he felt the teen's eyes burning a hole in the side of his face, turning his gaze down to her.

"Nothing." She responded with a falsely sweet smile, it disappearing as soon as he turned his back a stormed off.

She wasn't sure what, but Charlie knew he was up to something and not for one second did she think it was anything good.

* * *

Despite her lack of enjoyment at being around a lot of people, people watching was one of Charlie's favorite things to to. And although this wasn't quite that, she'd take what she could get as she leaned against the big tree next to the Greene's house, watching as most of the group sat around talking.

"Do you know what's going on?"

"Where is everyone?" Andrea and T-Dog asked Glenn as the approached the house.

"You haven't seen Rick?" Asked Glenn.

"He went off with Hershal, we were supposed to leave a couple of hours ago." Andrea told him as they slowed to a stop.

"Yeah you were, what the hell?" Daryl said from Charlie's left, drawing her eyes over to him and Carol as she hadn't heard them approaching, a small smile on her face at seeing the two together, no hostility evident between the two.

"Rick told us he was going out." Carol said as she came upon Daryl's side as his eyes caught Charlie's and he gave the young girl a small nod.

"Damn it. Isn't anybody taking this seriously? We've got us a damn trail." Daryl said, turning around to see Shane approaching the group with a gun in his hand and a bag over his shoulder. "Oh, here we go."

"What's all this?" He asked Shane as he approached.

"You with me, man?" Shane asked, scowl on his face as he handed Daryl a gun, ignoring his question. "Time to grow up," He announced to the group as he walked closer. "You already got yours?" He asked Andrea as he passed her.

"Yeah. Where's Dale?" The blonde asked, worry showing in her voice for the older man.

"He's on his way."

"Thought we couldn't carry?" T-Dog asked as Shane handed him a gun as well.

"Yeah, well we can and we have too." Shane said as Charlie ran a hand over her face, thinking about how shit was undoubtedly about to hit the fan. "Look, it was one thing sitting around here picking daisies when we thought this place was supposed to be safe. But now we know it ain't. How about you, man? You gonna protect yours?" He asked Glenn, offering him a shotgun.

"Can you shoot?" Shane asked maggie after Glenn excepted the gun.

"Can you stop?" She shot back. "You do this, you hand out these guns, my dad will make you leave tonight."

"We have to stay, Shane." Carl said as he walked down a few of the porches steps.

"What is this?" Lori asked as she came around the porch, joining the group.

"We ain't going anywhere, okay?" Shane told Carl. "Now look, Hershal, he's just gotta understand. Okay? He's- well, he's gonna have to. Now we need to find Sophia, am I right?" He asked, directing the question to Carl as he approached the boy, kneeling in front of him and holding out a gun. "Huh? Now I want you to take this, you take it Carl and you keep your mother safe. You do whatever it takes."

"Rick said no gun, this is not your call." Lori said angrily as she put herself between Shane and Carl. "This is not your decision to make."

"Oh, shit." T-Dog said, drawing everyone's eyes to where he was looking. Jimmy leading Rick and Hershal out of the woods, two walkers in front of them on snare pole.

"What is that?" Shane questioned before he started running towards them, soon followed by everyone else except Lori, Carl, and Charlie. Lori holds Carl back as they slowly followed the others as Charlie stood there for a moment, sighing before she quickly made to follow them.

"What the hell you doing!?" Shane shouted as he got close to them.

"Shane, just back off." Rick told his partner as he tried to control the walker in his hands.

"Are you kidding me? You see? You see what they're holding onto!?" Shane yelled as everyone gathered around, keeping their distance from the walkers.

"I see who I'm holding onto." Hershal said just loud enough for the others to hear.

"Nah, man, you don't."

"Shane, just let us do this and then we can talk." Rick tried to reason.

"What you want to talk about, Rick? These things ain't sick. They're not people. They're dead. Ain't gonna feel nothing for them 'cause all they do, they kill! These things right here, they're the things that killed Amy. They killed Otis. They're gonna kill all of us." Shane went off, shouting at everyone.

"Shane, shut up!" Rick said, his words falling on deaf ears.

"Hey, Hershel man, let me ask you something. Could a living breathing person, could they walk away from this?" Shane asked before pointing his gun at the female walker Hershal was holding onto, putting through rounds into her torso.

"No! Stop it!" Rick shouted to his friend.

"That's three rounds in the chest. Could someone who's alive, could they just take that?! Why is it still coming? That's its heart, its lungs. Why is it still coming?" Shane continued, putting three more rounds into the walker.

"Shane, enough!" Rick shouted again.

"Yeah, you're right, man. That is enough." Shane said, calmly walking forward and putting a final bullet in the walkers head, sending it crumbling to the ground. "Enough risking our lives for a little girl who's gone! Enough living next to a barn full of things that are trying to kill us. Enough. Rick, it ain't like it was before! Now if y'all want to live, if you want to survive, you got to fight for it! I'm talking about fighting right here, right now." Shane shouted before running towards the barn doors, Charlie's eyes following him the whole way until her attention was drawn away by movement in the corner of her eye.

"Take this," Daryl told her, holding out a handgun. "Don't use it unless you have to." He said as she accepted the gun with a shaky nod, her heart pounding inside of her chest.

Rick was the only one shouting as Shane pounded on the doors, the others standing in shock or focused as they knew what was about to happen and had to be ready when the barn doors bust open.

Which happened moments later. The doors burst open and Shane took a few steps back and raised his gun, firing the first shot.

Charlie held tight to the gun in her hand as she took a step to the side to see better, Daryl having stepped in front of her after he gave her the gun. She wanted to help, sure, despite the shaking in her hands but decided it's better she didn't as there were already many people shooting.

She'd help if she had to but the walkers were contained enough now so she decided to stay back and only use the gun if she needed as Daryl had told her.

She walked a little in front of Carl and Lori and saw Rick struggling with the walker he still had. "Rick?" She called to the older man, gaining the older mans attention.

He looked back at her as he struggled to hold the walker still and saw the gun she held and the unasked question in her eyes and he gave her a nod, his arms going to his sides as the walker fell dead from the bullet Charlie fired at it from her gun.

"Stay back!" Rick shouted at his wife and son over the gunfire as they ran closer to him now that the walker was dead and Charlie stepped in front of them as Rick turned his attention back to the others, watching them shoot down all the walkers, the last one soon hitting the ground.

Everything was quiet for a moment, too quiet, Charlie though as her ears rang slightly from the loud gunfire. She heard the small cry's coming form the Greene family after a moment but she couldn't move her eyes from the pile of dead walkers in front of her, almost light she suspected they would come back to life at any moment.

She caught Shane looking back at Rick from the corner of her eye as she kept her gaze on the barn, a low growling drawing her eyes from the ground and to the door, the sight before her causing her heart to drop into her stomach and the gun going limp in her hands.

The sound of Carols cry as she called to her daughter was the first thing Charlie heard before she was able to snap out of it and drag her eyes away from the reanimated corpse that was once a little girl and turn to Carl as his mother held him in her arms.

"Carl, don't look, okay?" She told the boy, her voice wavering slightly as she sat in front of him to block his view.

Despite her own words, Charlie looked over her shoulder to see the walker that was once a sweet little girl stumblling over the bodies of the other dead ones and she watched as Rick walked up to her with his gun and fired, her small body crumpling to the ground as the sound echoed around them.

* * *

Everyone was frozen in place as they all absorbed what just happened until Carol pushed out of Daryl's arms and ran away.

Charlie thought about following her for a moment but decided it was best to wait a minute. She wasn't sure what she could really do to comfort the women anyway.

Snapping out of her thoughts, Charlie stood almost like a robot, tucked the gun into her waistband, and took a step towards the barn like something was controlling her body. She'd been here before and didn't fight it as her feet led her into the barn, ignoring Daryl's shadow as he hovered for a moment before backing off, letting her find her way through the bodies and into the barn where she found what she was looking for.

She wasn't sure there was even going to be one in there but she thought it was a safe bet as it was a barn after all, whether it had housed multiple walkers moments before or not.

Walking back through the maze of bodies, Charlie gently placed the blanket over Sophia's body as Beth, Maggie's sister, pushed passed Rick and fell to the ground next to one of the walkers.

Charlie stood and took a few steps towards the girl as she rolled one walker to the side and turned another one over, her feet reacting before her mind when she saw the walker reach up for the girl.

The others reacting quickly as well, coming to pull Beth away, giving Charlie the perfect chance to sink her knife into the walker's eye, silencing her.

Beth continued to cry as Charlie quickly stood and backed away from the others, hand, and knife bloody as she stumbled back.

She took a deep breath as she realized she couldn't be there any longer and turned her back to the others and walked away.

She just had to get away. Away from the dead bodies and the tiny one hidden under the blanket, away from the people, away from everything.

When Charlie had walked away she didn't stop for a while until she found herself outside the Rv. She had cleaned her knife and her hands sometimes along the way and just sat on the ground outside the door.

She knew Carol was in there, she had quickly checked on the women when she got there before leaving to sit outside the door. Charlie liked being alone when she was upset and thought maybe Carol would rather that but wasn't sure so she stayed close enough that she could be alone without truly being.

"Hey," A low voice said close to Charlie, her eyes snapping open to see Daryl standing next to her. "You good?"

Nodding her head, Charlie looks down at her hands and mumbles."Yeah," Feeling Daryl hesitate before he turned and entered the Rv and sat with Carol until Lori came by a little while later.

"They're ready," Charlie heard the women say. "Come on."

"Why?" Carol asked in a quiet voice.

"Cause that's your little girl," Daryl told her.

"That's not my little girl." Said Carol as Charlie stood from the ground and leaned against the Rv. "That's some other thing. My Sophia was alone in the woods. All this time I though... She didn't cry herself to sleep. She didn't go hungry. She didn't try to find her way back. Sophia died a long time ago."

Each one of the older woman's words hit Charlie like a punch to the gut. She had been out there with Sophia, she had the little girl in her arms but she still lost her. It was her fault that she died, she should have done something else, tried harder to protect the girl. She was only twelve years old.

Lori leaving the Rv snapped Charlie from her thoughts and brought her attention to the wet feeling on her right cheek, her hand going up to wipe the tear away as Daryl also left, his attention turning to Charlie as he motioned for her to come along as well.

The service wasn't long. No one really said anything, just stood around. It was depressing, Charlie thought as everyone stood around, one person walking away was all anyone needed as everyone split up and went their separate ways.

But Charlie found she couldn't move her feet as she stared at the slightly smaller grave. She kept telling herself there was no point dwelling on the passed like she had many times before, but it wasn't always that easy. Especially when you're the reason someone is dead, a child at that.

Not thinking about it was how Charlie got through most things, she had to find something else to focus on so she could push it to the back of her mind as she found it hard to forget anything. But she didn't have anything else to think about right now. There was nothing for her except the haunting eyes of what was once a little girl burned into her mind.

"C'mon," A gruff voice said from behind her but didn't draw her eyes away from the dirt until Daryl's shadow fell over her and she looked up to meet his eyes.

"It sucks," Charlie said lamely, feeling oddly like a pouting child.

Daryl didn't say anything but nodded his head in agreement and gestured with his head for her to follow him. He knew the teen blamed herself for Sophia's death and being next to the young girls grave wasn't going to help so he led her away from it in comfortable silence.

Charlie kept her eyes on the ground as she followed behind Daryl until they came to a stop and they both say down, not a single word mumbled between the two as they occupied their hands to try and help take their minds off the days events.

Daryl was sharpening sticks, Charlie thought he might be making more arrows but she wasn't sure, her own hands practicing the same coin trick she had shown Carl and Sophia back on the highway moments before the heard of walkers came and chased the young girl away.

It hit Charlie hard, losing Sophia, she felt selfish for feeling that way but she couldn't help it, she felt responsible for the girl. She imagined it had something to do with her past, the loss of another young child bringing back bad memories and the overwhelming feeling of guilt.

She buried those memories a long time ago but as of late it's like something had been digging them up and the moment Sophia's body walked out of that barn, that metaphorical shovel fully uncovered those memories and shook them to the front of her mind.

She knew it would take time to put them back in the dark hole at the back of her mind but she'd done it before, she could do it again. Or at least that's what she kept telling herself as her fist tightened over the coin in her hand until her knuckles turned white, her nails digging painfully into her skin.

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**Yup...So hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and leave a review, they really help. I'll hopefully have more chapters up soon. I have idea's for later in this story, after season 2 is completed so that'll be good. **

**Also didn't proof read this, I'm to lazy, so sorry for any mistakes.**

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	11. Psychic

**Shorter chapter but I have a few more already written. I'm coming to the end of season two and I'm super excited because season three has been one of the main seasons I want to write, as well as between seasons 2 and 3. I might end this story and make a new one for season three, a sequel, or I'll just continue posting on here, I'm not sure yet.**

**Well, hope you guys enjoy this chapter, I should be posting another one soon as it's aready written.**

**Words: 2,111**

* * *

Charlie had decided she couldn't sit still any longer after sitting there for a little while and excused herself to walk back to the house thinking she might check on Carl.

She wasn't sure where the young boy was but assumed it was a safe bet his mother was, the women who was currently approaching her. "Hey, Charlie, you know where Daryl is?" The older woman's question confused her. Why does she need Daryl?

After gazing up at the women in confusion for a few moments, Charlie eventually just nodded in the general direction she had left Daryl in. "How's Carl?" She asked Lori before she got the chance to walk away.

"He's okay, he's inside resting," Lori told the girl with a smile, earning her a nod as she continued her walk to find Daryl.

"Oh, Lori," Charlie called after her, "I don't know why you need him, but it probably won't go over well." She warned the older lady, knowing Daryl was upset and definitely didn't want to talk to anyone, especially whatever Lori had to say. Not that she disliked the women, she just guessed whatever she needed Daryl for wasn't going to make him happy. Lori only gave the girl a nod before turning away and continuing her walk, leaving Charlie to turn and make her way to the house.

"Hey, buddy." She greeted Carl as she bumped into him by the front door. "What're you up to?"

"Have you seen my mom?" He asked her, ignoring her question.

"Um, yeah, she was going to talk to someone, she said you were resting," Charlie told the boy, slightly annoyed about how Lori always leaves him in the care of others.

"I did, not tired," Carl said as he walked into the living room. "Beth collapsed."

"What?" Charlie asked, wondering if she had heard the young boy correctly.

"Yeah, mom said something about shock." Nodding her head at this new information, Charlie looks around and notices the lack of people around them.

"Where is everyone?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Carl passed by Charlie again and leads her upstairs and into a bedroom where she saw Maggie sat on the bed next to her sister.

"How is she?" Charlie asked them as she looked down at Beth's still, pale face.

"I don't know," Maggie said as she continued to stroke her sister's hair.

"Where are the others?" Asked Charlie as she pulled a chair over to sit next to the sister, Carl leaving the girls alone.

"Glenn and Rick went to find dad in town." Maggie still didn't look up and Charlie thought it might have had something to do with the small crack in the young woman's voice.

"Don't worry, they'll be back soon." Charlie tried to reassure the girl.

Maggie didn't say anything, only nodded her head as she kept her tears at bay and continued to stroke her sister's hair, sending the teenager a small smile, grateful for her attempt to help her feel better and her company.

She hadn't gotten to know the young girl well, she'd only talked with her a few times and not about much. She had asked Glenn about her, curious about the young girl who seemed to be on her own.

Glenn didn't know much about the girl either. He knew she was alone when she came into their group and despite there many conversations, he didn't know anything about her passed. She never talked about herself, choosing to ask him questions instead. She was cool though, Glenn had told Maggie, he considered the young girl a friend.

Sitting back in her seat, Charlie gets comfortable as she sits with the sisters. She felt that Maggie could use the company. It's not like she had any important plans anyway.

* * *

"Lori, dinner," Carol called out as everyone took a seat at the table, prepairing to eat dinner.

"She's not in there," Maggie informed the older women.

"Where is she?" Dale asked, everyone's worried expressions looking around.

"Carl, when's the last time you saw your mom?" Shane asked the younger boy as Charlie squinted her eyes in thought.

"This afternoon," Carl said from his seat, worry creeping into his voice.

"Shit," Charlie mumbled as she put two and two together and stopped out of the house.

Stupid, Charlie thought about Lori as she ran away from the house and towards where she knew Daryl was. She was looking for him earlier and Charlie now knew why.

"Did Lori find you earlier?" She asked Daryl as he tended to his fire, slightly out of breath from her run.

"Yeah," Was all Daryl said, Charlie's hands running through her hair as she took a deep breath.

"She asked you to go to town, didn't she?" Charlie said even though she knew the answer.

"Yeah, told her I was done being an errand boy," Daryl told the young girl as she crouched next to the fire, worried for the women. Stupid, she was pregnant and going off alone, what the hell was she thinking?

"We can't find her, she must have gone herself," Charlie stated more to herself than to Daryl.

"Dumb bitch," Daryl mumbled as Charlie turned her head to the sound of approaching footsteps, Carol soon coming into view.

"I think Lori went looking for Rick and the others," Charlie told the older women, standing from her spot. "I'll go tell the others," Sparing one last look to Daryl, Charlie turns and runs back to the house, leaving Carol with him.

"Lori asked Daryl to go into town, I think she went herself," Charlie told everyone who had gathered around outside, their worry growing at the new information.

"Carl," Andrea called after the boy as he stormed off into camp.

Ignoring the others, Charlie followed after the boy. "Carl, buddy?" She asked as she slowly peaked into the tent he shared with his parents. "Your mom is gonna be fine."

"You don't know that," Carl said, trying to hide how upset he was.

"Actually, I do," Charlie told him confidently, crouching in front of him. "If I tell you something, you have to promise not to tell anyone else, okay?" She asked the boy, his eyes turning up to look at her as he nodded.

"I'm psychic," She said with a smile, drawing one from the boy as well.

"No, you're not," He told her.

"I so am," Charlie said, pretending to be offended. "And I know that your mom is gonna be just fine." She assured the boy.

"Okay," Carl said as he nodded his head. "I believe you." And Charlie hoped she was right, if Lori didn't come back, Carl would never talk to her again.

"Good. What do you say we go back outside, wait for your mom to come back?" Charlie asked, having no doubt Shane or someone went to get her.

"Okay," Carl agreed, grabbing Charlie's offered hand before she led him out and waited with the others until Shane pulled.

"Oh my God, are you all right? What happened?" Andrea asked as she ran up to Lori, noticing her injuries.

"I was in an accident. I'm fine, I'm fine." Lori told the women, turning her attention to look around the group. "Where's Rick?" She asks and everyone goes silent, Charlie eyes looking at Shane as he rubs the back of his head. "They're not back? Where are they?"

"Look, I had to get you back here."

"You asshole."

"Lori,"

"He's my husband."

"Lori, I will go after him. I will find him. Hey! Now look, first things first I gotta - I gotta look after you. I gotta make sure the baby's all right, okay?" Shane says, and Charlie rolls her eyes. Real smooth dude, just announce it to everyone why don't you?

"You're having a baby? Why didn't you tell me?" Carl says as he stands in front of Charlie, her hand lightly resting on his shoulder.

"Come on. Let's make sure you're all right. Come on." Dale says after Lori just looks at her son, at a loss for words.

"You go with your mom, okay?" Charlie tells Carl, gently pushing him to follow the others as they took her inside.

"Charlie," The young boy calls to her and she turns back to him, stumbling as a sudden weight hits her. "Thanks."

Dumly nodding her head, Charlie awkwardly returns Carl's hug before the boy pulls away, much to her relief. She loved the kid but hugs were not her things. "Go on," She tells him again, nudging him towards the others.

Taking a detour through the camp, Charlie finds her bad and dig through it for a cleaner shirt. It was getting colder lately and Charlie was grateful for that, her preference for long-sleeved shirts not doing anything to help her in the scorching sun. She told herself she didn't care if the others saw but she knew she really did, and she didn't want to answer the questions and deal with the stares she knew would come. People just don't know how to mind their own business.

Quickly changing from her long-sleeve shirt to a short-sleeved one, Charlie through a button up on over it, the sleeves reaching her wrists.

Shoving her other shirt into her bag, Charlie's hand rubs against something soft and she reaches for it, pulling it from her bag. Her sketchbook. She had forgotten about it.

Setting it aside, Charlie closes her bag up and stands with her sketchbook in hand and turns away from camp, taking her time walking away from the Greene's house.

Carol had stayed with Daryl long enough for Charlie to know they talked or something. She wasn't sure but if the look her Carol's face when she came back was anything to go by, it didn't go well. But with Daryl involved, that's not surprising.

"Lori's back," Charlie said as she settled on the other side of the fire. "Not Rick and Glenn."

She knew he may not care that much and he definitely acted like he couldn't give a shit but she told him anyway. And as she suspected, he didn't say anything on the matter, only continued to glare at the flames in front of him.

Sighing, Charlie turns her attention to the book in her lap. She knew she wouldn't be able to draw anything right now, it was far too dark, but the fire provided enough light for her to see her previous sketches.

There weren't too many of them, she had just gotten the book before the world went to shit and she hadn't had the time to use it before she forgot she even had it.

Flipping through the pages, Charlie stops when she looks down at a drawing she had forgotten about. She barely even remembered drawing it. At that moment she wished she wasn't a good artist as the realistic young eyes looked up at her from the page. They were only gray because she only had a pencil but she knew the real ones were a bright icy blue, so bright they almost looked unnatural.

Quickly flipping the pages before thoughts of the young boy could invade her mind anymore, Charlie pauses on another picture, this one of a car. She smiled at this one, remembering her plan to give it to Glenn, but of course, she had forgotten.

Leaning back on a nearby tree, Charlie holds the book in her lap as she watches the ashes float away from the fire and into the air, blending in with the stars.

* * *

The sound of shuffling is what brought Charlie to the edge of consciousness, the ache in her back fulling pulling her from sleep. That's what you get for sleeping propt up on a tree, the girl thought bitterly as she strechted her sore muscles. She really needed to break her habbit of falling alseep in random places.

"Going into town with some of the others," Daryl said to the girl when he noticed she was awake. He hadn't meant to wake her although he knew her sleeping position was far from comfortable.

"They're not back yet?" Charlie asked as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"Nah, we'll find 'em." Daryl said, throwing his vest on over his shirt, collecting his crossbow as Charlie stood fully and followed him back to the house.

"Guys," Andrea said as they approached, nodding her head to the vehicle driving up to them, Rick, Hershal, and Glenn all stepping out as it rolled to a stop.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief until their attention turned to T-Dog when he asked, "Who the hell is that?"

"That's Randall."

* * *

**Thanks for reading! I'd love to know what you guys think of this story so far. Not much happened in this chapter but there's more coming soon.**

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	12. Goodbye to the Old Us

**I finished writing season 2 today, I also went to look for a job, let's hope I get it. **

**I am going to post the start of season 3 as it's seperate story, it'll have the same name just part II and I'll make a post on this story when I've posted it. Not the happiest with the season 2 ending, if I'm honest but its season 3 I've been looking forward too and I hope you guys are too.**

**So thanks for reading! And the reviews. **

**Words: 3,775**

* * *

"We couldn't just leave him behind, he would've bled out. If he lived that long." Rick told everyone as the gathered in the dining room, Charlie choosing to distance herself as she stood by the door, only half paying attention.

"I repaired his calf muscle as best I can, but he'll probably have nerve damage. He won't be on his feet for at least a week." Hershal said as he entered the room, wiping his hands with a towel.

"When he is, we give him a canteen, take him out to the main road, send him on his way."

"Isn't that the same as leaving him for the walkers?" Andrea asked Rick as Daryl entered the door behind Charlie, coming to stand a few feet away from the girl, considerate of her personal space, for which she was greatful.

"He'll have a fighting chance," Rick said, Charlie's head falling back against the wall in annoyance, zoning out their next few words.

"Not a threat? You killed three of their own, you took once hoastage, but they just ain't gonna come looking?" Shane asked with a scoff.

"They left him for dead," Rick reasoned. "No one is looking."

"We should still post a guard."

"He's out cold right now, will be for hours," Hershal told them.

"You know what? I'm gonna go get him some flowers and candy," Shane said as he made to leave the room. "Look at this folks, we're back in fanasyland."

"You know, we haven't even dealt with what you did at my barn yet," Hershal said as he followed behind Shane. "Let me make this perfectly clear, once and for all, this is my farm. Now I wanted you gone. Rick talked me out of it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. So do us both a favor, keep your mouth shut."

Wow, who knew the old man had that in him, Charlie though as she hid her amused smile, turning to leave the house.

Charlie wasn't sure what she thought about their group's new problem. Shane obviously wanted to kill the kid and Charlie supposed she could understand that but in no world would she willingly go along with that. Not that she had a say in the matter, she was just a kid to these people, they wouldn't take her seriously and she knew it, no one ever did.

Rick wanted to wait until he was better and send him on his way, Charlie thought that was the better option of the two but she still didn't know if it was right. But if their words were anything to go by, this kid and his group could be dangerous and Charlie didn't want anything bad to happen to these people, even if she wasn't overly fond of some of them.

They had a week, Charlie supposed, until whatever happened happened.

* * *

"Goin' hunting, you coming?" Daryl says as he walks passed Charlie, the young girl looking up from her drawings with a confised face. He's never once offered to take her hunting, why is he now?

"Ain't got all day," He said when she still hadn't reasponded, snapping the girl from her thoughts.

"Yes," She quickly said and jumped to her feet, sticking her book in her bag.

"You still got that gun?" Daryl asked, refering to the gun he had given her day at the barn.

"Yeah," She reply's as she looks up at him.

"Bring it," Was all he said before walking away, leaving Charlie to quickly tuck the gun into her waist band and run after him.

She thought about asking him why he was suddenling willing to bring her along with him, she knew he liked being alone, especial when he hunted, but she didn't want to risk her luck and kept her mouth shut, their feet soon hitting the forest floor.

"Ya ever been huntin'?" Daryl asked, breaking the silence between the two.

"Like, twice," Charlie answered. "Didn't really do anything."

"Uh-huh," Daryl mumbled as he looked around the forest. "Rule number one, stay quiet."

Charlie only nodded as she followed behind him, stepping where he had to keep her footsteps quiet. It was an obviouse rule, she thought.

They went on after that, Daryl showing her what to do rather than telling her as they trecked through the forest. They ended up with a few squirrels, all of which Daryl shot with his crossbow, the only weapons Charlie had were her gun and knife. The gun would be too loud and she wouldn't be able to get close with her knife, and her aim wasn't very good when it came to throwing it.

"Why'd you let me come?" Charlie finally asked the question than had been bugging her all day as the two walked back to Daryl's camp.

"Figured you'd want to learn," He said as he tossed the dead squirrels next to the fire pit.

"I do," Charlie told him as he started to light a fire. Of course, she needed to learn, hunting was a great thing to know, especially with the world like it is today.

"You ever skinned somethin'?" Daryl asked, knowing she hadn't but asking all the same.

"Not an animal," Charlie said with a smile as she sat down in front of him, earning her an odd look from him. "It was a joke, I was joking." She quickly said, the smile gone fom her face even though she was still ammused with her own stupid joke.

Snorting, Daryl looked down at the squirrels and pulled his knife from it'sheath, "You got yours?"

"Yeah," Charlie replied and proceeded to pull her knife out and hold it in her hands, looking down at the dead squirrel Daryl had tossed to her.

"Best roll up your sleeves or they'll get covered in blood," Daryl told her without a glance. It was a long shot, he knew, getting her to do it. The reason she wore long sleeves obvious to him.

Charlie halted in her movements at his words. She wasn't an idiot, she knew he knew. He had seen the few scars poking out from under her sleeves before. And she knew he wouldn't stare or asks questions but that still didn't remove the feeling from deep in her gut.

Sighing, Charlie though 'fuck it' before rolling her sleeves to just below her elbows.

The only words between them were when Daryl told her what to do next. By the time they were done, Charlie had skinned and gutted three squirrels, thankful that she wasn't squeamish as her hands and arms were covered in blood.

Daryl took over and started cooking them as Charlie cleaned up with the rag Daryl had given her, leaning against the log next to him.

Sighing in frustration, Charlie decided it didn't matter at this point and leaned forwards to take off her button up shirt, blood on the sleeves despite her having rolled them up, leaving her in a normal short sleeved T-shirt. What can she say, she was messy.

Daryl made a point to not look at her arms as he knew she would be even more uncomfortable, but he had seen the markings on them and he felt a surge of anger when he did. Not towards the girl but towards whoever put them there, his father popping into his mind as he thought of his own scars.

They sat in silence for a while, both their eyes watching the fire as their meal cooked, Charlie's lower lip sore from chewing it raw. She felt weird without something covering her arms, she always wore long sleeves and now suddenly she wasn't, she felt almost naked.

"Thanks," Charlie mumbled after the silence got to be too much for her. She wans't even sure why she was thanking him. For teaching her to hunt or to skin and cook an animal, or for the fact he hadn't said anything about the marks on her skin.

Grunting to let her know he heard, Daryl looks down at the girl sitting next to him, his eye caught something on her inner left arm, a few small marks, unlike the others.

"What's that?" He asked when curiousity got the better of him, his eyes staying on the mark so Charlie could follow his line of sight to them and know what he meant.

"Oh," Charlie said once she realized what he meant. "That is...a tattoo."

"Bullshit," Daryl states, not believing the girl.

"I swear," Charlie said, running over fingers over the black tally marks on her left arm.

"Where the hell did you get a tattoo?" He asked her in disbelief, knowing you couldn't get a tattoo at only fifteen.

"Well that's a story," Charlie said with a small laugh.

"Got time," Daryl stated, looking back at the fire and confusing the girl at his sudden need for conversation.

"Okay," Charlie said as she also looked at the fire, her fingers still running over the black marks. "Uh, I have these friends, I guess, really just people I knew. One of them, he was nineteen, I think. He got his hands on a tattoo gun and well, everyone else was getting them." She finished with another small laugh, only telling him the shortened version of the story.

Daryl snorted as he shot her a look. "Oh, everyone else was doing it," He said mockingly.

"And I always wanted a tattoo," Charlie said, ignoring his jab. "Didn't hurt as bad as I thought either."

"What's it mean?" He asked, curiouse to if it even had one or she just liked the way it looked.

"Um..." Charlie said with another look down at her arm, ignoring all the other marks and instead focusing on the tattoo. The meaning behind the tattoo wasn't as easy to talk about than actualy getting the tattoo but she guessed she wouldn't mind talking about it a little. "It the number of houses I've lived in."

She spared a glance up at Daryl and elaborated when she saw the confusion behind his eyes. "Foster kid," She offered with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

Daryl felt an odd feeling shoot through him at that information. He knew whatever her life had been like before wasn't good but he hadn't known in what way. Foster kid makes sense, explaided a lot of things. The scars she had on her arms, her need for space and hate for human contact.

He had known a kid when he was younger, he had been skitish and everything seemed to frighten the boy and one day he found out he was a foster kid, been in the system his whole life.

He saw a lot of the young boy in Charlie. He wouldn't call her skittish, she wasn't afraid of much from what he could see, she just shied away from anyone's touch and never stood to close to anyone if she could help it. And he'd notced her face scrunch up when she fell asleep the other night. He'd thought about moving her but knew it wouldn't go well and ended up just letting her sleep.

He wasn't sure what else to say, Daryl wasn't the best at talking and was thankful when the squirrels finished cooking and the two ate in silence and sat there for a while after, Daryl eventually looking over to see Charlie had slumped against the log and fallen asleep.

She really needed to stop doing that, Daryl thought.

* * *

It was time. Rick and Shane left that morning to take Randle eighteen miles out and leave him.

Charlie was happy to have it over with finally, hoping everything would go back to the way it was before they'd even found him even though she knew it wouldn't. Not with the possible threat he and his group would find their way back to the farm.

"Hey, Glenn," Charlie greeted her friend as she climbed the up the Rv. "Got a minute?"

"Yeah, what's up?" Glenn asked the young girl as she came to sit next to him, both their legs hanging over the Rv.

"I've been meaning to show this to you, just forgot," Charlie told him as she leaning over and handed him the paper she had carefully torn from her sketchbook.

"Woah," Glenn said as he looked down at the realistic drawing of the dodge challenger he had once driven. It felt like forever ago now, Glenn thought. "This is really good." He told the girl, a smile coming to her face.

"Thanks," She mumbled, kicking her legs as they hung in the air. "Keep it."

"Really?" Glenn asked, smiling like a little kid with a candy bar.

"Yeah," Charlie said with a nod, it was the reason she drew the picture anyway when she had seen Glenn's sad face over losing the car. She knew he was over it by now but still wanted him to have the picture.

"Sweet, thanks," Glenn said as he looked back down at the picture.

"You and Maggie good?" Charlie asked when her eyes landed on the girl as she walked into her house. She had noticed an odd tension between the two over the past few days and was curious.

"What?" Glenn asked as he looked over to the girl, following her eyes to the now-empty Greene's porch.

"Oh, come on, Glenn, a blind person could see something was going on there. What did you say to her?" Charlie asked. She may not have any experience with romance or relationships but she wasn't an idiot.

"Why do you think I said something?"

Charlie didn't answer Glenn, only turned her head and gave him a look, causing him to sigh and nod his head. "Just apologize." Charlie told him before climbing to her feet, leaving Glenn alone to think over her suggestion.

* * *

"So what are you gonan do? We'd all feel better if we knew the plan." Lori asked Rick and Shane as everyone gathered around camp the next morning after the two men had return the night before, Randall still with them, sporting a few new cuts and bruises to their faces.

"Is there a plan?"

"We gonna keep him here?"

"We'll know soon enough," Rick said and gave a small nod, Charlies attention turning to the approaching footsteps, her eyes landing on Daryl and his bloody fist.

"Boy there's got a gang, 30 men. They have heavy artillery and they ain't looking to make friends." Daryl started when he reaced the group. "They roll through here, our boys are dead. And our women, they're gonna- They're gonna wish they were." He finished, his eyes flickering to Charlie as she avoided his gaze, the story Randle had told him fresh in his mind.

"What did you do?" Carol asked, her eyes also noticing his fist.

"Had a little chat." He said before moving his hand to his side, hiding it from their view.

Rolling her eyes with a quiet scoff, Charlie pushing off the tree she was leaning against and leaves the group as anger flares in her. She didn't mean to be there, she already knew what the dicision was and didn't need nor want to be apart of it.

She needed to clear her head anyway, walk off her anger. She knew she didn't have the right to be angry with Daryl for what she knew he did but she was anyway. Hell, she was pissed at him.

Walking off without any destination or care of where she ended up, Charlie kept going until she came to a small clearing with a pond and a small pier. It looked old but sterdy enough to hold her but she was still careful as she walked out onto the platform.

She had cooled off a bit on her walk but she wasn't any less angry with how the morning had turned out. She knew she shouldn't be and kept telling herself it didn't matter, that it was how things were but it didn't help.

Sitting cross-legged near the edge of the pier, Charlie picks at the wood, collecting a few loose pieces and rocks that were lying around and tossing them in the water, not bothering to turn when she heard the sound of familiar footsteps behind her.

"What're you doin' out here?" His gruff voice asks from a few feet behind her as she continued to throw the small objects into the water.

"What does it look like?" She asked rhetorically, not even trying to not sound annoyed.

Daryl sighed, he knew she was upset with him, could see it the moment her eyes scanned over his bloody fist back at camp and in the way she stormed off. "I did what I had to."

Letting out a humorless laugh at his words, Charlie keeps her eyes on the water in front of her, mumbling to herself. "They all say that,"

He barely heard her words but he did and they made him feel like complete shit. He hadn't meant for this. Hadn't meant for her to see that side of him. He wasn't sure why but the teenager's trust meant something to him and he feared he'd lost what little he had.

"C'mon, let's get back to camp," He said, pretending he hadn't heard her words as he wasn't sure what to say to them.

"No, I think I'm good here," Charlie said stubbornly, her eyes still refusing to look at him.

Getting annoyed by her behavior, Daryl lets out a quiet scoff as he shifts on his feet. "You don' need to be out here alone."

"Well, unfortunately, I'm not," Charlie said and Daryl actually rolled his eyes. "I'm fine, I have my knife and gun." She informed him in the hopes he would leave her alone.

"Fine, suit yourself," Daryl told her, letting the frustration seep into his voice.

"Fine," Charlie said with as much frustration as she listened to Daryl stomp off, finally leaving her alone.

"Stupid," She mumbled to herself moments later, knowing that's what she was along with this entire situation.

She stayed out there for a while longer until she felt better and wandered her way back to camp.

"Charlie, do you mind keeping an eye on Carl for me?" Lori asked the girl when she saw her, not wanting her son to be in the group meeting about to happen.

"Uh, yeah," Charlie agreed, shaking her head to clear her thoughts.

"Thank you," Lori said as Carl walked to teen and she turned to the house, the door closing behind her.

"Hey, buddy," Charlie greeted, her heart not in it like usual.

"Hey," The child mumbled back to her, also not seeming in a cheery mood.

"Wanna play cards?" She asked him, thinking a few games might cheer both of them up.

"Yeah, okay."

"You know where my bag is?" She asked and Carl nodded. "Okay, my cards are in the front pouch, run and grab them."

Watching him for a moment, Charlie quietly makes her way onto the porch to listen to the others at they talked about Randalls fait, keeping an eye on Carl as she did.

She heard Rick saying something about shooting him might be more humane and let out a humorless snort. Nothing about this was humane and if they couldn't see that then...

"Charlie," Carl called to the girl as he approached with a deck of cards in his hands.

"Coming, buddy." She responded as she walked off the porch and over to her, leading him back to camp where they played a couple of rounds of gold fish and she showed him how to pay crazy eights.

The other soon came out of the house, most not talking as they went about doing random things and that was enough for Charlie to know how the meeting ended.

She locked eyes with Daryl as he passed by the camp but she soon looked away with a shake of her head, chosing to stay with Carl.

When the sun completly set, Rick, Shane, and Daryl took Randall out to the barn as the others stayed around the camp. Not Dale, Charlie noted. She knew he was heavily against killing Randall and she'd seen him storm out of the house a few minutes before the others had. She hadn't seen the older man since.

It was a little while later when Charlie snapped out of her thoughts and noticed Carl wasn't around anymore but before she could go looking for him, Rick walked back into camp, his son walking in front of him.

"We're keeping him in custody for now," Rick informed the group, most everyone relaxing at the information which annoyed Charlie a little. They seemed okay with him dying earlier.

"I'm gonna find Dale," Andrea said with a small smile as she stood from her seat to go look for the man.

"Carl, go inside," Charlie heard Lori tell her son. "Now, please."

Charlie stepped away from Rick and Lori to give them their space, she honestly didn't care about eavesdropping right now, but as she sat down a scream tore through the silence of the night.

"T-Dog, get a shot gun, now!" Rich yelled towards the man before running off to follow the screem along with Charlie.

Following the sound of the scream, Rick and the others ran out into the field where they could now hear Daryl calling to them from.

It was chaotic, everyone yelling and screaming, hudling around to see what was going on. Charlie stayed behind everyone and made a circle around to see what was happening, her heart sinking the moment she layed eyes on Dale as he lyed on the ground, gasping in pain, his torso ripped up by the now dead walker a few feet away.

"We need Hershal!" Rick was shouting over everyone. "Can we move him?"

"He won't make the trip," Hershal said.

"You have to do the operation here. Glenn, get back to the house-" Rick started to say but was cut off by Hershal.

"Rick," Was all the older man said as he put a hand on Rick's shoulder and shook his head slightly, letting him know there was nothing he could do.

"He's suffering," Andrea chocked out. "Do something."

Taking out his gun, Rick points it down at Dale's head and looks the man in the eyes but doesn't pull the triger. He couldn't do it.

Moving forwards, Daryl takes the gun from Rick's hand and bends down next to Dale.

"Sorry, brother." He said before pulling the trigger, Charlie's eyes slamming shut as the sound echoed around them.

* * *

**Sorry for any mistakes, I, yet again, didn't proof read this. Also we have some bonding between Daryl and Charlie but now she's mad at him. We also learned a tad bit about her past. **

**Hope you guys enjoyed and let me know what you think!**

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	13. Not the End

**Here we are, the last chapter of season two. I'm going to mark this story as complete and make a new one for season 3, I'll make a post on this chapter when I've posted it. Really hope you guys stick around for it.**

**I hope you've enjoyed this story so far. I wasn't the happiest with the ending of this but I was ready to get done so I could move on to more exciting stuff.**

**Hope you guys enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think.**

**Words: 4,312**

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"It'll be tight, fourteen people in one house," Charlie heard Rick say as she helped Glenn load up the back of the blue truck. They were all moving into the house as the weather got cooler.

They had a service for Dale that morning, nothing too special. They buried him and Rick gave a long speech. It was a good speech, Charlie thought, it made her think about a few things.

She wasn't that mad at Daryl anymore but she still hadn't talked with him. There was some underlying anger she supposed but with everything that had happened, it felt silly now.

Once they were finished loading everything up, Charlie took her own bag and walked around the house, needing to be alone.

And just like last time, that didn't last long as a pair of small footsteps slowly approached her.

"Hey, Charlie?" Carl greeted the girl as he stood in front of her nervously.

"Hey, bud, what's up?" She asked the young boy as he shifted on his feet.

"If I tell you something will you promise not to tell my parents?" He asked her, not for the first time.

"Gonna be honest with you, kid, I don't know," Charlie said as she looked up at him. "If I don't think they need to know, I won't." She told him, patting the ground next to her. Of course, she wanted him to tell her whatever was on his mind but she wasn't going to lie to him either.

"I took it from Daryl's motorcycle," Carls said as he handed her a gun once he'd sat next to her. "If he found out I took it, he'd kill me."

"I thought we talked about this?" Charlie said as she examined the gun.

"It's my fault," He mumbled, pulling at the grass as he avoided her eyes. "Dale, it's my fault that he died."

"What? Carl, don't say that." She told the boy with furrowed brows, wondering why he thought that.

"I saw that walker," He said as he looked up at her. "I was gonna shoot it. It was stuck in the mud. I was throwing rocks at it and stuff but it got free, came after me. If I had just shot it Dale would still be alive."

"Carl," Charlie mumbled and looked off to the side briefly. "This is not your fault, okay? Do you hear me? This is not on you." She told him sternly. The last thing Carl needed was the guilt of thinking he had gotten someone killed weighing on him. It was a heavyweight, one Charlie new, and didn't want Carl to have to carry it. "Say it."

"It's not my fault," Carl mumbled, his fingers still pulling on the grass.

"And don't forget it," Charlie said as she brought her attention back to Daryl's gun. "And don't worry about this, I'll deal with Daryl." She told him and Carl stood up to leave. "Oh, and Carl? Please don't wander off by yourself anymore? Okay, it's dangerous and not just because you're a kid. It would be for anyone."

Nodding his head, Carl turns away from the girl and walks off to find his mother.

Great, Charlie thought with a sigh as she leaned her head back against the house. Now she was gonna have to talk to Daryl. And probably apologize.

Better sooner than later, she thought as she stood and gathered her things, slipping the gun in her waistband where hers unusual sits but was currently in her bag along with the other gun she'd buried in the bottom.

Walking around the house, Charlie saw Shane walking away from Rick who stood on the porch with his hands on his hips.

"Rick?" She asked as she approached the man after waiting a moment, him and Shane undoubtedly just having argued. "You seen Carl lately?"

"He's inside with his mother," Rick told the teen as she paused to few feet away from him.

"He just came to see me, gave me this, he took it from Daryl," Charlie said and pulled out the gun to show Rick but not handing it over. "Just thought you should know."

"Thank you," Rick said with a sigh, hands still on his hips as he looked down at the ground in thought.

"No problem. Um, look don't worry about the gun, I'll give it back to Daryl." She said before mumbling. "I need to talk to him anyway."

Turning to leave, Charlie stops again when she hears Rick speak. "Thank you,"

"You already said that," She told him as she furrowed her brows in confusion.

"Nah, I meant for looking out for him," Rick told the girl, not helping at all with her confusion. "Carl, I see you with him, talking to him, watching out for him."

"Oh," Charlie said and looked down, not used the being thanked. "Yeah, it's no problem. He's a good kid."

"I appreciate it," He told her with a nod before she turned to make her leave to find Daryl.

Finding him only minutes later, Charlie clears her throat to get his attention. "I found this," She states as she holds his gun out to him.

Looking between the girl and his gun, Charlie not meeting his eyes, Daryl leans forward to take it from her. "Where?"

"Doesn't matter," She states. It didn't matter, she thought, he has it back now, no harm done.

Accepting that she wasn't going to tell him, Daryl nods before turning back to his bike.

"I'm sorry," Charlie mumbles after a moment, gaining Daryl's attention once more. "For yesterday, you know."

"Eh," Daryl dismisses with a wave of his hand. "Ain't got nothin' to be sorry for." Not quite willing to admit that he did.

"So we're good?" She asks him, finally looking up to meet his eyes.

"Yeah, we're good." He tells her, his face not showing the relief he felt that she was no longer angry with him.

"Good," Charlie says with a head nod. "Uh, be safe or whatever." She says before turning and walking towards the house. She had yet to find where she was gonna stay and now seemed like a good time to do so.

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"Randall's missing."

"Missing? How?"

"How long's he been gone?"

"What's goin' on?"

"It's hard to say. The cuffs are still hooked"

"He must' slipped 'em."

"Is that possible? It is if you've got nothing to lose. The door was secured from the outside."

Everyone was talking, gathering around the shed Randall had been kept in. Apparently, he was missing.

"Rick! Rick!" A voice suddenly called, bringing everyone's attention to the edge of the wood to see a bloody Shane walking towards them.

"What happened?"

"He's armed! He's got my gun!" He kept yelling as he got closer to the group and Charlie furrowed her brows as she looked up to Daryl.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Little bastard just snuck up on me. He clocked me in the face."

"All right, Hershel, T-Dog, get everybody back in the house. Glenn, Daryl, come with us." Rick said, pointing to everyone as he did.

Call her Crazy, but Charlie didn't like this, something was off with the whole situation. She hadn't seen much of Randall but from what she did, she found it hard to believe he snuck up on Shane and was able to knock him out. Why was Shane in the woods anyway?

"Hey, go with the others," Daryl said to Charlie when he noticed her not moving, her brows furrowed as she watched Shane.

"Just doesn't seem right, does it?" She mumbled.

"What?" Daryl asked, wondering what she'd meant by the words.

"Nothing," Charlie said with a shake of her head, taking a step back to the house as her eyes finally broke from Shane to look up at Daryl. "Just be careful, and keep an eye on Shane."

Turning away Charlie ran to catch up with the others as they entered the house, leaving the four men to track down Randall.

Mostly everyone stuck to the living room, a few people scattered around the house, as they waited. It sucked, Charlie thought, she hated it. She knew worrying wasn't going to help or change anything but she couldn't help it and she found herself chewing her nails, a habit she thought she had broken.

"I'm going after them," Andrea stated as she stood from the couch.

"Don't, they could be anywhere," Lori said. "And if Randall comes back we'll need you."

The door closing got Charlie and everyone's attention and they turned their heads to see Daryl and Glenn walk in. "Rick and Shane ain't back?" The former asked.

"No," Lori told them.

"We heard a shot," Daryl said as he looked around, his eyes landing on Charlie before giving her a small nod.

"Maybe they found Randall," Lori said.

"We found him,"

"Is he back in the shed?" Maggie asked.

"He's a walker,"

"Did you find the walker that bit him?"

"No, the weird thing is he wasn't bit," Glenn said, speaking up for the first time since entering the house.

"His neck was broke," Daryl said. "The thing is, Shane and Randall's tracks were right on top of each other. And Shane ain't no tracker, so he didn't come up behind him. They were together."

"Would you please get back out there, find Rick and Shane and find out what on earth is going on?" Lori asked Daryl as she took a few steps closer to him.

"You got it," Daryl said before nodding, sending one last look to Charlie before exiting the house once again, Glenn and Andrea following after him.

"You guys need to see this," Glenn said as he poked his head back inside, bringing everyone out onto the porch and pointing off into the distance where you could barely make out a herd of walkers.

"Patricia, kill the lights," Hershal told her in a whispered voice.

"I'll get the guns,"

"Maybe they're just passing, like the herd on the highway. Should we go inside?" Glenn asked, his question directed towards Daryl.

"Not unless there's a tunnel downstairs that I don't know about," Daryl said. "A herd that size would rip the house down."

"Great," Charlie mumbled to herself before going back inside to get her bag and gun. Tonight was not going to end well, Charlie thought as she shook her head and counted her bullets, she just hoped everyone would make it.

"Got your gun?" Daryl asked Charlie the moment she stepped out of the house, the girl showing him the gun as her answer. "Good," He said before turning his head. "Glenn," He called, nodding his head towards Charlie when he got the younger mans attention.

"Got it," Glenn said, understanding what he meant.

"Stay with them," Daryl told Charlie before jumping over the porch railing, thinking the girl would be safer with them in their car than stuck at the house.

"Let's go," Glenn said to Maggie and Charlie before they all ran to the green Hyundai. Maggie driving this Glenn in the passenger seat, leaving Charlie to climb in the back.

"Keep it steady," Glenn told Maggie as he shot the walkers from the window along with Charlie.

"I'm trying,"

They continued to drive around and shoot but Charlie eventually pulled herself back into the car when she realized it was no use, there were too many of them, no way they'd be able to kill enough.

"Where the hell are they going?" Maggie asked as Charlie looked around, trying to see through the dark. "Should I follow them?"

"I'd say yes. Swing it around, swing it around here." Glenn said as Maggie turned the car, stopping as walkers swarmed the front of it.

"Oh my god," Maggie mumbled. "I can't get through."

"Head out," Glenn said, Charlie's eyes darting away from the walkers and towards him.

"What?"

"Get off the farm now," Glenn told Maggie as he looked at her.

"Don't say that,"

"Maggie, it's lost!"

"The others- we can't leave them."

"Get off the farm now!" Glenn yelled one last time as Maggie backed away from the walkers, turning to drive off the farm with tears in her eyes.

Charlie sat back in her seat and stared forward. She didn't know what else to do, what else to think. Was everyone else okay? Did they also leave the farm? Where was Daryl?

"Oh my god," Charlie could hear Magging mumbling to herself as she drove down a back road.

"All right, let's just - let's just circle back to the highway," Glenn said after a while.

"Did you see my dad? Did- did he make it?" Maggie asked, her voice breaking as she ignored what Glenn said. "Did you see?"

"I couldn't see anything," Glenn told her sadly.

"And Beth, I lost Beth. We've gotta go back."

"We can't go back, okay? There's nothing to go back to." Glenn told her.

"But Beth-"

"I think she was with Lori," Glenn said as a glance towards Charlie as if asking if he was right but she only shrugged and shook her head.

"Did they make it?"

"I don't know."

"Patricia? Jimmy? What if they didn't make it, what if nobody made it?"

"They made it, okay? They had to. Alright, let's just circle around to the highway where we left supplies for Sophia."

"No, the herd came from that direction."

"Just stop. Stop the car," Glenn told Maggie and she slowed to a stop before putting the car in park. "Let me drive."

Getting out of the car, Glenn walks around the hood as Maggie climbs over the seats and sits where Glenn previously was before bursting into tears.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, Maggie, look at me. Look at me." Glenn says as he takes Maggie's hand in his. "Hey, we're alive. We made it. Okay? I'm sure they are too. Right?" Maggie seemed to calm down at his words and nodded her head along with him.

"I love you. Maggie, I love you," If Charlie wasn't so worried over the others, she would probably be feeling really awkward right now but instead she just looked out the window to try and give the couple as much space as she could. "I should've said it a long time ago and it's been true for a long time. We're gonna be alright, okay?"

"Yeah," Maggie mumbled and sat straight in her seat as Glenn put the car in drive.

"Well, congratulations," Charlie said minutes later, the tense silence becoming too much for the girl. The young couple didn't say anything but Charlie saw a small smile pull at Glenn's lips and before she could look to Maggie, the rumble of a motorcycle sounded behind them.

"It's Daryl and Carol," Charlie informed the others with a smile before she caught sight of the blue truck behind them.

Rolling down her window, Charlie waves as Daryl passes them before looking back to try and see who was in the truck but she couldn't make out who and decided to wait as they neared the highway, soon pulling up.

Maggie immediately jumped from the car and ran to hug her father and sister while the others followed, Charlie not stopping until she came to stand at Daryl's side.

"Where'd you find everyone?" Rick asked after pulling away from his wife and son.

"Well, those guys' tail lights zigzagging all over the road, figured he had to be Asain driving like that," Daryl said, pulling a laugh from Glenn.

"Good one."

"Where's the rest of us?" Daryl asked, looking down at Charlie, almost like he was reminding himself that she was still there. He had been worried about her, scarred she didn't make it off the farm. But he was relieved when he passed the green car and saw her riding in the back.

"We're the only ones who made it so far," Rick informed as Charlie's eyes swept the group to see who was missing.

"Shane?" Lori asked, her answer coming from a shake of Rick's head.

"Andrea?"

"She saved me, then I lost her." Said Carol.

"We saw her go down," T-Dog said from his position by the blue truck.

"Patricia?"

"They got her too, took her right in front of me. I was - I was holdin' onto her, daddy. She just-" Beth said before hugging her father while Maggie rubbed her back. "What about Jimmy, did you see Jimmy?"

"He was in the Rv, it got overrun."

"You definitely saw Andrea?" Carol asked.

"There were walkers everywhere," Lori said.

"I'm gonna go back," Daryl said as he moved to get on his bike.

"No," Rick said.

"We can't just leave her,"

"We don't even know if she's there."

"She's isn't there, she isn't. She's somewhere else or she's dead." Rick stated to the group. "There's no way to find her."

"So we're not even going to look for her?" Glenn asked.

"We gotta keep moving, there have been walkers crawling all over here."

"I say head east," T-Dog put in.

"Stay off the main roads. The bigger the road, the more walkers, the more assholes like this one. I got 'em." Daryl said as he lifted his crossbow and walked towards an approaching walker, sending a bolt into its head.

"Hey, bud," Charlie said to Carl, tapping his shoulder to get his attention, the young boy spinning around to wrap his arms around the teen's waist.

"Miss me?" She asked with a laugh, bending down to be at his height.

"I wasn't sure if you made it," Carl told her, playing with the sleeves of his jacket.

"Well of course I did, can't get rid of me that easily." She told him with a smile, pushing his hat down over his eyes.

"Can you ride with me?"

"Of course," Charlie told the boy as she stood and followed him to the red Chevrolet suburban Silverado and climbing into the back with Carl and Lori, the young boy sitting in the middle.

"Damn," Rick grumbled as he hit the steering wheel sometimes into their drive.

"What's wrong?" Lori asked.

"We've been riding red for the past hour,"

"Better make sure we don't get forgot," T-Dog said from the passenger seat, pointing to the cars ahead of us.

Honking the horn to alert the others, everyone rolls to a stop before exiting their vehicles.

"We can't stay here," Charlie heard Maggie say as she walked up behind the others, wrapping her arms around herself as the wind blew.

"We can't all fit in one car," Glenn stated.

"We'll have to make a run for some gas in the morning," Rick told everyone.

"Spend the night here?" Carol questioned as Charlie's attention turned to Carl.

"I'm freezing," The young boy said as he shivered, his mother wrapped her arms around him and Rick gave him his Jacket.

"We'll start a fire, yeah?" Lori said.

"You go out looking for firewood, stay close," Daryl said. "Only got so many arrows, how're you doing on ammo?"

"Not enough," Was Ricks answer.

"We can't just sit here with our asses hanging out," Maggie said, earning her a disapproving look from her father.

"Watch your mouth. Everyone stop panicking and listen to Rick."

"All right, we'll set up a perimeter. In the morning, we'll find gas and some supplies. We'll keep pushing on."

"Glenn and I can go make a run now, try and scrounge up some gas," Maggie suggested

"No, we stay together. God forbid something happens and people get stranded without a car."

"Rick, we're stranded now." Glenn points out.

"I know it looks bad, we've all been through hell and worse, but at least we found each other. I wasn't sure I really wasn't but we did. We're together. We keep it that way. We'll find shelter somewhere. There's gotta be a place." Rick said as he looked around at everyone.

"Rick, look around. Okay? There are walkers everywhere. They're migrating or something." Glenn whisper shouted at the man.

There's gotta be a place not just where we hole up, but that we fortify, hunker down, pull ourselves together, build a life for each other. I know it's out there. We just have to find it." Rick said, his words harsh.

"Even if we do find a place and we think it's safe, we can never be sure. For how long? Look what happened with the farm. We fooled ourselves into thinking that that was safe." Maggie said. Real buzzkill Maggie, Charlie thought as she tried to convince herself that it wasn't true, that they could find a place.

"We won't make that mistake again," Hershal told his daughter.

"We'll make camp tonight over there, get on the road at the break of day," Rick said as he motioned off to the side of the road.

"Does this feel right to you?" Carol suddenly asked Daryl, both his and Charlie's attention turning towards the women.

"What if walkers come through, or another group like Randall's?" Beth asked and Charlie was starting to get annoyed with everyone and their questions. It's not like they have many options anyway.

"You know I found Randall, right? He had turned, but he wasn't bit." Daryl informed Rick when the kid's name was mentioned, and Charlie watched Rick's face closely, the older man not seeming surprised by the information.

"Rick, what the hell happened?" Lori asked her husband, trying to catch his gaze as he turned his eyes away.

"Shane killed Randall. Just like he always wanted to." Daryl said, helping fill in the gaps.

"And then the herd got him?" Lori asked.

"We're all infected," Rick said after a moment a silence went by, everyone's attention snapping towards him. "At the CDC, Jenner told me. Whatever it is, we all carry it."

"And you never said anything?" Carol asked as Charlie turned her head to watch Daryl move off to the side.

"Would it have made a difference?" Rick asked, and no, Charlie thought, it probably wouldn't have. She wasn't sure if she felt better knowing. Sure she felt sick hearing it, but after that feeling passed, would she be better for knowing?

"You knew this whole time?"

"How could I have known for sure? You saw how crazy that mo-"

"That is not your call. Okay, when I found out about the walkers in the barn, I told, for the good of everyone." Glenn said, cutting Rick off.

"Well, I thought it best that people didn't know," Rick told him, letting his eyes scan over the others faces before turning and walking off, Lori soon following behind him.

"Shit just keeps getting better and better," Charlie mumbled to herself sarcastically and Daryl snorted in agreement when he heard her.

"Come here, Carl," Charlie says to the boy as he stands there alone after Lori left to talk with Rick.

Rick and Lori talked for a while as Charlie kept her eye on Carl and everyone eventually moved to a spot off the road aways and started a fire, darkness soon falling around them.

Charlie sat with Carl until his mother returned and she went to sit next to Daryl as he talked with Carol, trying her best to ignore everyone as they talked about staying with Rick or leaving. It was stupid really, he kept a secret that didn't affect them and now there all pissy?

"What was that?" Beth asked when everyone heard movement in the woods a little ways away.

"Could be anything," Daryl said as he stood. "Could be a raccoon, a possum."

"A walker," Glenn said, earning an eye-roll from Charlie.

"We need to leave. I mean what are we waiting for?" Carol asked the group. Charlie liked the women, don't get her wrong, but right now she was being really stupid, Charlie thought. Does she really think running off in the dark is a good idea?

"Last thing we need if for everyone to be running off in the dark," Rick told everyone calmly. "We don't have the vehicles, no ones traveling on foot.

"Don't panic," Hershal says as another branch breaks.

"I'm not-I'm not sitting here, waiting for another heard to blow through," Maggie said. "We need to move, now."

"No one is going anywhere," Rick said.

"Do something," Carol told him.

"I am doing something!" He whisper shouted at her. " I'm keeping this group together, alive. I've been doing that all along, no matter what. I didn't ask for this. I killed my best friend for you people, for Christ's sake!" Biting her lip, Charlie looks down at her lap. It may be a shock but at the same time not surprising, she knew something was wrong with Shane, she just didn't know how far it would go.

"You saw what he was like, how he pushed me, how he compromised us, how he threatened us. He staged the whole Randall thing, led me out to put a bullet in my back. He gave me no choice. He was my friend, but he came after me." Rick continued and Charlie could hear Carl's muffled crying behind her.

"My hands are clean. Maybe you people are better off without me. Go ahead. I say there's a place for us, but maybe it's just another pipe dream. Maybe - maybe I'm fooling myself again. Why don't you Why don't you go and find out yourself? Send me a postcard. Go on, there's the door. You can do better? Let's see how far you get." No one moved, a few sharing looks with each other before turning their eyes back to Rick.

"No takers? Fine. But get one thing straight, you're staying. This isn't a democracy anymore." Rick finished before turning away from the group, leaving them by the fire, his words running through their minds.

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**Well, there we have it. I already have the next chapter written and will post soon, maybe tomorrow. I'll post here when I do.**

**Hope you guys liked this chapter and let me know what you think! And if you have anything you want to see more of in the next story let me know. Like if who you want to see Charlie interact with more and stuff like that. I want to make this story as good as it can be.**

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	14. Sequel is now posted

**The sequel to this story is now posted! Not Bound By Blood II. **

**I really hope you guys go check it out. The first chapter isn't too long but I'll hopefully have more chapters up soon.**

**The summary isn't very good but I'll go ahead and post it here anyways. **

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**After losing the farm, no one thought they would ever find a safe place to call home again, but they do. And with that, Charlie grows closer to the group and lets herself start to trust in the people around her. Will all last? Or will everything crumble around them, leaving whoever's left to pick up the pieces.**

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**Hope everyone gives this story a read, and I hope you guys like it!**

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